ORBIT Robotics

Full Name

Fokusprojekt ORBIT (ETH Zurich)

About

ORBIT Robotics is a focus project (Fokusprojekt ORBIT) at ETH Zurich that builds humanoid robotic platforms for orbital operations. Its stated ambition is to build a new generation of humanoid robots for deployment in space, developing affordable humanoid platforms as a fast-moving test bench for future orbital operations. The project's premise is that astronauts go to space to do science, yet a large share of crew time is still absorbed by routine maintenance; ORBIT therefore builds robotic platforms intended to shift that burden away from astronauts so that orbital operations can move faster, combining controls, perception, electronics, mechanics and biomechanics into a single integrated effort on operational robots for orbit. The team launched ORBIT with IKARUS, a first operational test bed for orbital robotics built in two months and then iterated through autonomous task experiments, tighter teleoperation and full-stack hardware and software development. That opening chapter is complete, and the work has moved to HELIOS, a complete four-armed humanoid prototype with a sharper mission for orbital operations; HELIOS extends the same logic toward station logistics and persistent support work, where crew time is repeatedly lost to cargo handling, inventory management and repetitive station-side operations. Hardware and software are developed and tested in the lab at ETH Zurich, with an emphasis on teleoperation-first data capture, rapid hardware iteration and continuous system validation, and the project is supported by ETH Zurich and corporate partners including NVIDIA, Bosch, Phoenix Contact, AWS and Luxonis. The team spans biomechanics, mechanics, electronics, controls, simulation and assembly, and is mentored from ETH Zurich's Soft Robotics Laboratory by Prof. Dr. Robert Katzschmann and Dr. Ronan Hinchet.

Robot Products

HELIOS

Released 2026

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