1988 – P.O.W.E.R. Arm – University of Alabama / Wyle Laboratories (American)

The Flexible Robot Arm P.O.W.E.R. Introduction The Personal Occupied Woven Envelope Robot (P.O.W.E.R.) project is a joint effort of the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and Wyle Laboratories. This work is being performed under the Innovative Research Program for NASA. POWER is a flexible robot arm. It will be used as an "extension" of …

1972 – Free Flyer with Manipulator Arms – Bell / Rancho Los Amigos (American)

Spacemen Get Long Reach with Remote-Control Aids By WERNHER von BRAUN PS Consulting editor, Space Sophisticated puppets called "teleoperators" can relieve our astronauts of many difficult or dangerous tasks performed in orbit When one of our coming Space Shuttles repairs a satellite in orbit, or retrieves it for return to Earth, it's likely the job …

1962 – Nonanthropomorphic Space Suit (Concept) – Douglas Aircraft Corp (American)

For Douglas Aircraft, in 1962,  their earlier space manipulator designs, i.e., the Project Mercury converted capsule and the "Humpty Dumpty" unit, can be considered as first-generation, feasible, nonanthropomorphic devices. A much more speculative concept, but in every sense within our technological reach, is shown in figure 3 above. This is basically a space tug and …

1965-8 – Space Pod – 2001: A Space Odyssey – Clarke (British) / Kubrick (American)

EVA Pod – The EVA Pod is a fictional spacecraft used for extra-vehicular activity seen in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Jupiter spacecraft Discovery One carries three of these small, one-man maintenance vehicles. [EVA – Extra-Vehicular Activity i.e. activity outside of the prime space vehicle.] Film stage. Detail of manipulator arms. Illustrations by …

1971-2 – Apollo-Soyuz Shuttle Manipulator – Caldwell Johnson (American)

Apollo-Soyuz Shuttle Manipulator Demo (1971-1972) –   By David S. F. Portree  ,    05.14.2012 During the 1983 STS-7 mission, the crew of  Shuttle Challenger used the Remote Manipulator System arm to deploy and retrieve the SPAS satellite, which captured this iconic image. The arm, bent to form the numeral “7,” is visible near the front …