Russia is planning to send robot cosmonauts to the International Space Station (ISS) to conduct dangerous tasks as a substitute for astronauts.

Of the two military prototypes being tested on the Earth, Fyodor resembles humans in having a head, a torso and two arms, designed to handle objects both in a supervisory-controlled mode and in an autonomous one.

Fyodor can be remotely-controlled by an operator to perform copycat tasks. The operators have to wear a special suit that transfers their movements to the robot.

Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has recently said that “the work on the creation of a remote-controlled robot that would be one of the crew members at the future Russian national orbital station has been assigned,” adding that military robots would have priority in space application and exploration.

While human astronauts are limited to eight or nine hours in their spacewalking missions, robots could march around the station in the vacuum of space for days, weeks or even months.