Astrobee Space Services (NASA)

Astrobee is NASA's free-flying robotic system aboard the International Space Station, developed at NASA Ames Research Center. The system consists of cube-shaped robots (approximately 31 cm per side) that use electric fans for propulsion within the pressurized modules, enabling untethered autonomous navigation. Three Astrobee units — named Honey, Queen, and Bumble — are permanently aboard the ISS to assist crew with routine tasks: interior surveying, inventory management, cargo movement, air sampling, and filming. Astrobee can operate autonomously or under remote control from Earth. Its open-source software platform allows researchers to develop and test algorithms for free-flying robotics in microgravity. The system is a successor to SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites) and informs future autonomous robotics for deep space stations where crew time is severely limited.