Key conclusions
- Orbit Robotics unveiled Helios on May 20, 2026, a 4-armed robot designed to maintain the station.
- Helios is targeted at tasks costing about $140,000 per hour, potentially lowering the cost of space operations.
- Orbit Robotics plans Helios for commercial space stations as infrastructure expands beyond the ISS.
Get to know each other Heliasa four-armed humanoid from Swiss startup Orbit Robotics built for the microgravity reality. Legless and with 28 degrees of freedom, it is clingy, stationary, and stores spare limbs for wrenching and cargo unloading on space stations. The goal is pragmatic: perform maintenance and transportation tasks autonomously or by remote control so astronauts can focus on science. If it pays off, each hour of work could offset the cost of the astronauts’ labor by about $140,000.
A robot designed for use in space
Every now and then, a design choice is obvious when you see it. Orbit Robotics, a Swiss startup, has unveiled Helios, a humanoid robot adapted for microgravity. No legs, four arms, ready for the station. It is designed to live inside orbital habitats, the kind that NASA and its partners provide and operate. Think maintenance checklists, freight hauling, and routine work that keeps the science going.
Helios stands out by treating zero gravity as standard, not an afterthought. Instead of walking, he moves hand by hand, bracing himself on rails and bulkheads, while freeing up two hands for the task at hand. The company is positioning it as an assistant for performing repetitive tasks that take up hours of astronaut work but rarely require human judgment.
How Helias came to life
Founded in late 2025 out of a Swiss research ecosystem, Orbit Robotics spent its first months building one environment: space stations. The team publicly unveiled Helios in a video released on May 20, 2026, which focused on the machine swapping terrestrial symmetry for orbital pragmatism. The message was clear: optimize for the station, not the sidewalks.
The startup says it’s prioritizing tasks faced by space crews, from routine inspections to cargo deployment. This focus coincides with a broader industry shift as commercial stations and service missions move from concept to schedules, including efforts related to US post-ISS planning.
Design adapted to work in zero gravity
Legs are ineffective in microgravity. Helios uses four coordinated arms to move, stabilize and operate. Two hands can clamp the structure, two can manipulate tools or payload. The robot can operate autonomously to perform set procedures or take remote control to perform complex procedures (telecommunication delay controlled in low Earth orbit).
This approach reduces jostling that can complicate delicate tasks in a tight module. It also mirrors how astronauts already get around inside the International Space Station, only with a machine that doesn’t tire during long, repetitive shifts.
Specs: What makes Helios work
The Helios is compact, standing 5.2 feet (160 cm) tall and weighing 70 pounds (32 kg), made of aluminum alloy and carbon fiber. It offers 28 degrees of freedom, including 14 in dexterous hands, for precise control. Power comes from electric actuators with a tendon-based transmission that concentrates the motors near the shoulders for effortless limb movement.
The working time is 3 hours on one charge. Transit speeds exceed 1.2 mph (2 km/h), which is sufficient for the interior of the station. The package aims to balance endurance, agility and safe interaction with delicate equipment.
Economic justification of space robotics
Astronauts’ time is short and expensive. Some estimates put that at about $140,000 an hour, and that number increases as the hours drag on unloading cargo or changing filters. Helios is designed to handle these duties so crews can focus on research and mission-critical work.
As commercial stations and lunar infrastructure plans develop, tools that turn checklists into background tasks can shape costs and schedules. This is the case with Helios: not a sci-fi assistant, but a practical colleague, tuned to the daily work in orbit.