Robonaut 2

R2 Dexterous Humanoid · NASA / General Motors · 2011

World's first humanoid robot in space. Developed jointly by NASA and GM, Robonaut 2 launched to the ISS in 2011 and became the first humanoid to operate aboard a spacecraft. It operated in Destiny module, assisting with simple tasks alongside astronauts. Returned to Earth in 2018 for repairs but became the foundation for decades of space robotics research — its dexterous hands (12 DOF) influenced every subsequent space manipulation robot.