Astrobee: The Adorable Little Robot That'll Soon Jet Around the ISS

It is, without a doubt, the most expensive air hockey table on Earth. Surrounded by three walls papered with pictures of the International Space Station's interior, the perfectly polished, perfectly level granite slab at NASA's Ames Research Center supports not a puck, but a robot riding on a cushion of CO2. Astrobee, it's called, is a cubic bot outfitted with 12 thrusters spitting blasts of air. It glides cautiously across the granite, sounding not unlike a muted jet engine. This is a training exercise--the wallpaper is for Astrobee to get its bearings.