HELIOS
About
About HELIOS
HELIOS replaces legs with four articulated arms suited to movement inside a microgravity station. The robot can use one or more limbs to hold rails or structural features while the remaining arms move cargo, operate equipment or reposition the body, avoiding the need for a walking mechanism that provides little value in orbit.
The architecture is intended to support inventory, internal logistics, routine maintenance and assistance to astronauts inside pressurised modules. Coordinated whole-body control would let HELIOS move hand over hand, anchor itself during manipulation and change orientation without a fixed base. The system remains an early space-robotics concept and has not been presented as flight-qualified or commercially deployed hardware.
Capabilities
Source-backed capabilities
- Workflows: Dexterous multi-arm manipulation, supervised or teleoperated task work, grasping research, and whole-body control for space robotics scenarios.
- Operating environments: Orbital-operations research, low- and zero-gravity manipulation studies, laboratory prototype testing, and space robotics development programs.
- Target markets: Space robotics labs, ETH project collaborators, orbital infrastructure researchers, and teams tracking humanoid manipulation beyond terrestrial industrial…
- Deployment model: Research prototype. ORBIT has revealed HELIOS publicly, but has not announced a commercial deployment model.
- Microgravity mobility and stabilization
Research demonstration - ORBIT documents HELIOS using four arms to navigate station interiors, hold position and handle tasks in microgravity, with cargo and inventory workflows as its first implementation focus.
Source - Material handling
Research demonstration - ORBIT documents HELIOS using four arms to navigate station interiors, hold position and handle tasks in microgravity, with cargo and inventory workflows as its first implementation focus.
Source - Inventory handling
Research demonstration - ORBIT documents HELIOS using four arms to navigate station interiors, hold position and handle tasks in microgravity, with cargo and inventory workflows as its first implementation focus.
Source
Operations
- Production Setup
one complete HELIOS prototype - 2026-05-20 - ETH Zurich, Zurich - ORBIT describes HELIOS as a complete four-arm humanoid prototype built for microgravity station-interior movement, stabilization and manipulation.
Source
Timeline
- ORBIT Robotics reveals HELIOS four-armed space humanoid prototype
2026-05-20 - Product Launch - HELIOS uses four arms to move through station interiors, hold position and handle tasks without relying on legs in microgravity. Its tendon-driven arms place motors near the shoulders, use spools and cables to drive the joints, and incorporate a rolling-contact elbow. ORBIT describes the complete prototype as a step toward space-station helpers, beginning with cargo and inventory workflows.
Source
Context
Market context
HELIOS is ORBIT Robotics' four-armed, four-handed space humanoid prototype. The system comes out of an ETH Focus Project focused on humanoid robotic platforms for orbital operations.
- Target environment: Orbital-operations research, low- and zero-gravity manipulation studies, laboratory prototype testing, and space robotics development programs.
- Workflow context: Dexterous multi-arm manipulation, supervised or teleoperated task work, grasping research, and whole-body control for space robotics scenarios.
- Customer context: Space robotics labs, ETH project collaborators, orbital infrastructure researchers, and teams tracking humanoid manipulation beyond terrestrial industrial settings.
- Deployment model: Research prototype. ORBIT has revealed HELIOS publicly, but has not announced a commercial deployment model.
- Commercial maturity: Early prototype from an ETH Focus Project, with public evidence limited to the official site and reveal materials.
- Adoption constraints: HELIOS still needs deeper technical disclosure, sustained test evidence, and a credible path from lab prototype to space-qualified hardware.
- Market position: A distinctive early space-humanoid project, differentiated by a four-arm architecture rather than a conventional terrestrial biped design.
- Adjacent products: Space robotics research platforms, orbital manipulation concepts, and dexterous humanoid systems.