Building a Droid Robot for the ISS

Like the fictional tricorder, the PSA will have sensors that can detect the pressure and temperature of the ambient air, as well as concentrations of gases such as CO2. For astronauts living in a sealed aluminium can in the vacuum of space, this kind of information can be a matter of life and death.

"It's kind of like having a canary on your shoulder," says former PSA systems designer John Loch. Miners used to keep a caged canary down in mine shafts to act as an early-warning device for subterranean methane that sometimes asphyxiated miners.

"If the canary starts getting dizzy, you'd better start heading for your spacesuits," Loch says.

PSAs can also venture into situations that might be too dangerous or uncertain for their human cremates." Astronauts might seal off one of the modules if there's a suspected problem, and then have the PSA check it out before humans go in," Loch says.

But crew members won't need to wait for an emergency to make use of their PSAs. The little softball-sized robots can help out with many day-to-day tasks as well.

"For example, if a crew member is taking something apart, the PSA could be floating over their shoulder and helping by telling them, 'Okay, remove this cover, take this latch off, move this wire over here, and so on,'" Loch says. "A floating, talking clipboard would be a good way to describe it."

This 15.2 cm (6 in.) robot will fly autonomously around the shuttle or space station, floating effortlessly in orbital free fall and propelling itself with 6 small ducted fans.

A small LCD display on the ball can also display simple lists and status information. The PSA would have a wireless network connection to the computers of the shuttle or space station, enabling it to access information about hardware, inventory, crew schedules, or science experiments -- then relay that information to crew members as needed.

And if crew members have a question, they can simply ask. The PSA will have advanced voice-recognition and intent-interpretation technologies that will allow it to understand spoken questions and commands.