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Remember the pressurized repair / assembly pods from 2001 A Space Odyssey and so many other space visionary works? Has there been any programs to design & build tiny vehicles like that with manipulator arms, for space stations or construction in space?

EVA pod

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  • $\begingroup$ Pressurized? That implies you mean manned vehicles? $\endgroup$
    – Hobbes
    Commented Oct 9, 2016 at 14:26
  • $\begingroup$ Yes manned. Maybe some free flying robot systems would be interesting too, but I am mostly interested if any space program or industry took the idea further. $\endgroup$
    – Johnny Robinson
    Commented Oct 11, 2016 at 23:28
  • $\begingroup$ Currently, in the age of drones, unmanned remote-controlled "helper robots" are far more viable and practical. Adding a small spacecraft around the astronaut gives very small benefits over an EVA suit, while seriously increasing mass and cost. $\endgroup$
    – SF.
    Commented Jan 4, 2017 at 7:38
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    $\begingroup$ Von Braun's "bottle suit" from the fifties? picture $\endgroup$
    – user20636
    Commented Aug 20, 2019 at 13:33

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There has been at least one semi-recent (2012) paper on the topic. The design is called the Flexcraft. There is a wikipedia article here.

enter image description here

It appears to be purely in the proposal stage.

The concept was more common in the '50s and '60s. You can see a lot of concept art at the wonderful Atomic Rockets page (search the page for "A space pod is a small pressurized vehicle" - the page is gigantic).

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    $\begingroup$ This is great. It seem as though it is being considered for the deep space missions to asteroids and such. They make a very good point that if there is an emergency or other urgent need you can't just jump in a space suit because you need decompression time. For this you don't. In spit of robots it still makes a lot of sense. $\endgroup$
    – Johnny Robinson
    Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 23:43

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