About the robot

The GYRE robot is an autonomous free-flying robot capable of orienting itself using visual cues and navigating in a microgravity environment. The robot determines its rotational and translational velocity and direction using images acquired by onboard cameras.

The GYRE team tested the robot on a reduced gravity ("free fall") flight in Houston, Texas during the week of July 24-August 1st, 2003 and then again during the week of August 11-18, 2006. Several image galleries are available that chronicle the week of flight testing and the actual flights in 2003 and 2006. The final report on the first flight (24M Adobe PDF file), which chronicles the robot's performance during the week of testing, is also available.