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Russia's Space Robot FEDOR Ready to Launch

This is FEDOR, Russia's newest space robot ready to join the ranks of cosmonauts and fly to the final frontier. Space is a dangerous place, full of deadly radiation and extreme temperatures. Cosmonauts and astronauts working in space have one of the hazardous jobs imaginable, but they are about to get a very strong helping hand. FEDOR, which stands for Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research, is being prepared to man spaceships and space stations, and his creators have called him a veritable 'Robo-Gagarin'. The humanoid robot prototype, which is being tested in Magnitogorsk by Russian company Android Technica, operates in two different modes - an autonomous mode and a remote-controlled mode. Engineers on earth can put on a special suit which gives them the ability to take control of FEDOR's movements in space, enabling him to perform complex and intricate tasks while in orbit or traveling through the cosmos. FEDOR's creators are tasked with preparing him for one mission in particular. The robot will be on board Russia's Federatsiya spaceship, which will launch around 2021. The FEDOR project started in 2014 with the aim of helping rescue workers in disaster zones, but the robot is now being evaluated for future roles in space, in education, and even in the military.