Robonaut 2: by NASA and General Motors

NASA and GM are working with engineers from Oceaneering Space Systems of Houston to create what they're calling the "Robonaut". In near future, instead of sending a regular astronaut to make a dangerous spacewalk outside the International Space Station or to send humans to Mars or Moon, NASA might be able to send a robotic astronauts. NASA and General Motors announced that they are working together to develop and build humanoid robots that can work side-by-side with humans. The idea, according to NASA, is to build robots that can help astronauts during dangerous mission and help GM build cars and automotive plants. According to NASA, the original Robonaut which also was a humanoid machine designed for space travel, was built 10 years ago by the software, robotics and simulation division at the Johnson Space Center. The Robonaut 2, which also is known as R2, is designed to be a faster, more dexterous and more technologically advanced robot.