Company - GITAI
Product/Service - R1
- Classification
- Surface Spacecraft
- Category
- Space Robotics
Commercial Rover
Robotic Arm
Hardware
- Fields
- Robot Astronaut
Lunar Rover
- Status
- Development
- First launch
- 2024
Movement of human to the low-earth orbit space station, and task on the site are subject to quite high cost as well as to safety issues. GITAI challenge to reduce the cost ten times lower by replacing humans with robots for movements to the low-earth orbit space station and tasks in the site.
Demo of GITAI's Lunar Robotic Rover R1 at JAXA’s Mock Lunar Surface Environment.
- Developed the GITAI IN1 (Inchworm One), an inchworm-type robotic arm equipped with “grapple end-effectors* ” on both ends of the arm.
- This unique feature increases “Capability”, which enables it to connect to various tools (end-effectors) to perform multiple tasks for various applications, and “Mobility”, which enables it to move in any direction. It can also connect/disconnect itself among different vehicles, such as rovers, landers, satellites, etc.
- In collaboration with the already announced GITAI R1 lunar rover, the GITAI IN1 has successfully completed various tests corresponding to Level 3 of NASA’s Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) in a simulated lunar environment at the JAXA Sagamihara Campus.
GITAI USA Secures DARPA LunA-10 Project
Nanoracks – GITAI S2
Project GHOST: GITAI S2’s extraveHicular multi-Objective in-Space servicing Task demonstration.
- More than a dozen payloads representing diverse research areas will launch to the International Space Station (ISS) onboard Northrop Grumman’s 20th Commercial Resupply Services mission contracted by NASA. The launch is planned for no earlier than January 29, 2024.
- An investigation from space robotics startup GITAI Japan, Inc. will evaluate how efficiently its dexterous robotic arm technology operates outside of the space station. This project aims to demonstrate that GITAI’s extravehicular robotic systems are capable of functioning in the space environment. A pair of robotic arms will perform a series of common crew activities and tasks via supervised autonomy and teleoperations from the ground.
- GITAI S2: Project GHOST: GITAI S2’s “extraveHicular multi-Objective in-Space servicing Task” demonstration will showcase the company’s capability to design, build, integrate, and operate extravehicular robotic systems, specifically through the “S2” variant of GITAI’s 2-meter class Modular Robotic Arm. This investigation, conducted on an external experiment site of the Bishop Airlock, supports development of robots for in-space assembly and manufacturing operations, as well as potential applications in extreme environments on Earth, including disaster relief, deep-sea excavation, and servicing nuclear power plants. This is GITAI’s second mission with Voyager & the Bishop Airlock. Learn more about their previous robotic arm experimentation here.
GITAI to Launch a Pair of Robotic Arms to the ISS on Monday, Jack Kuhr, Payload, 2024-01-24.
- The 1.5-m long mechanical arms will be installed outside the station’s Bishop Airlock to demo capabilities such as mating connectors, changing out tools, and other maintenance operations tasks required for on-orbit servicing.
- A 1-m autonomous arm from GITAI has already been tested in space, assembling solar panels inside the ISS in 2021.
Autonomous Robotic Arm System Aims to Advance Space Station Robotics, 2024-02-21.
- California-based startup GITAI is gearing up to test a novel autonomous robotic arm system on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS). Called S2, the 1.5-meter (4.9-foot) long pair of mechanical arms launched to the orbiting laboratory in January as part of an ISS National Laboratory®-sponsored technology development project on Northrop Grumman’s 20th Commercial Resupply Services (NG-20) mission.
- S2 is designed to carry out a variety of tasks, including in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (ISAM) in the space environment. As part of a months-long series of demonstrations, the arms will be attached to the outside of the space station via a commercial airlock, which was designed and built by Nanoracks, part of Voyager Space’s Exploration Segment.