Honda and Redwire pitch robotic lab assistant for future commercial space stations

By the Everything Space news desk · 11 Oct 2026 · written from the sources below

Image: Universe Today

The partnership aims to automate routine lab tasks on upcoming private space stations, though no station operator has yet agreed to use it.

Honda has partnered with space infrastructure company Redwire to develop a robotic system intended to handle laboratory maintenance tasks aboard future commercial space stations, according to a joint announcement unveiled at the International Astronautical Congress in Turkey.

The concept pairs Redwire's STAARK platform, a reaching and motion system capable of autonomously interacting with moving objects, with Honda's robotic hand technology, which uses independently articulated fingers equipped with tactile and force sensors. The combination is meant to let a robot grasp delicate items like sample vials without damaging them or letting them drift away in microgravity.

The push toward automation stems from the limitations of astronaut time and staffing on upcoming space stations. As NASA prepares to retire the International Space Station around 2030, companies including Axiom Space, Vast, and Orbital Reef are developing smaller replacement stations that may carry crews of only two to four people and could sit uncrewed for extended periods. Without constant human presence, routine lab work such as tracking inventory or swapping sample trays would need automated support.

Honda is known for decades of robotics work, including its once-famous ASIMO humanoid robot, and has since shifted focus toward precise robotic gripping technology. Redwire already operates several science facilities aboard the ISS and is contributing the motion and reaching component of the new system.

Despite the announcement, the technology remains conceptual at this stage. No commercial space station operator has committed to incorporating the Honda-Redwire system, even as some private stations could begin launching as soon as next year. The companies are using the IAC conference to introduce the idea as competition grows among firms hoping to supply automation tools for the next generation of orbital laboratories.

Written in Everything Space’s own words by our news-desk model from the sources above, and checked against them in code: every number in this report appears in its sources, and no sentence is copied from them.