Robonaut Shakes Hands in Space

After nearly a year of assembly and testing aboard the International Space Station, Robonaut 2, or R2 as it's also known, underwent a series of performance checks, which were followed by a handshake with Commander Dan Burbank. R2 went in a little low, but Burbank says the handshake was "firm." The robot then followed the shake by saying "Hello world" in sign language. R2 has since been powered down and placed into storage, but after some additional jobs, including vision characterization tests involving R2's camera-equipped eyes, the robot will eventually be used to help the ISS crew with various tasks around the station.  We are pretty certain that NASA is hoping that R2 will help to keep the ISS relevant too.