In Torrance, CA, at GITAI's busy factory, there were lots of cool robots on display, all getting ready for space missions.
The startup had a 2-meter robot arm moving around like a slinky on a fake space station, a rover digging fake moon stuff, two robot arms doing tests by themselves with special markers, and another robot arm teaming up with a rover to build a communication tower.
CEO Sho Nakonose and his team of 40 people watched proudly as the metal machines came alive. While the robots were great at working on Earth, GITAI's big challenge was coming up: making them work in space outside the ISS.
The ISS was getting two new robot arms. These were smaller versions of GITAI's special arms and were going to fly up on a Falcon 9 rocket to the ISS. They would be put outside the station to show they could connect things, switch tools, and do other maintenance jobs in space.
This launch was a big deal for GITAI. They dreamed of using robots to build stuff in space, and this was a big step forward.
Sho Nakonose started GITAI in Tokyo. He named the company after a cyborg character in his favorite Japanese cartoon. The name fit because GITAI wanted to make robots that could do all sorts of jobs that humans usually do.
"Our robots use tech from humanoid robots, which means they're really accurate and strong," Nakonose told Payload.
To make their dream real, GITAI got $45 million in funding last year and moved from Japan to the US.
In Torrance, they showed off their cool tech. The main star was their versatile robot arm, which could do lots of things in space like turning screws and picking up stuff. It could even change its hand to use different tools. The arm mostly worked by itself but sometimes needed a human to check things.
They called it the Inchworm arm because it could move like a slinky.
GITAI was all about moving around. Engineers drove rovers, and the Inchworm arm climbed structures. Mobility was key to their vision of the space future.
Besides the Inchworm, GITAI was adding arms to spacecraft, space stations, and lunar rovers, making them mobile too.
They planned to start by servicing spacecraft in orbit but hoped to go to the Moon and Mars in the future.
GITAI was also building a big arm for space stations and a rover for the Moon. They wanted to set up stuff like communication towers and habitats for humans.
Space was perfect for robots because it was hard and expensive to send people. GITAI thought robots could cut costs by a lot and help humans explore space better.
"Humanity is going up, not just out," Nakonose said. "Now's our chance to explore higher."
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