AI-Curious with Jeff Wilser Space Robots Are Here *Now*, w/ Icarus Robotics cofounders Ethan Barajas and Jamie Palmer
What happens when “space robots” stop being sci-fi set dressing and start punching a clock? We dig into a new breed of microgravity robots that do the unglamorous work—so astronauts can do more science.
In this episode of AI-Curious, we talk with Ethan Barajas (CEO) and Jamie Palmer (CTO), co-founders of Icarus Robots, fresh out of stealth with a $6M raise. Their pitch is simple and radical: put agile, teleoperated robots insidespacecraft like the ISS to handle cargo, inspections, and maintenance—then use the resulting microgravity manipulation data to unlock partial (and eventually full) autonomy. We cover the tech, the economics (why astronaut time is so expensive), the AI roadmap, and a pragmatic path from today’s chores to tomorrow’s orbital factories and lunar bases.
What we cover
- Why astronaut hours are precious—and how robots can “augment” rather than replace them
- The form factor: free-flying, drone-like bodies with dual arms optimized for zero-G dexterity
- Inside first, outside later: a deployment strategy that lowers safety hurdles and accelerates learning
- Data advantage: building the first large microgravity manipulation dataset via continuous teleop
- AI’s role: from human-in-the-loop control to primitives to scalable dexterous manipulation
- Communications and latency: S-band today, laser links tomorrow; what “real-time” actually means
- The “orbital factory” thesis: pharma, semiconductors, fiber optics—and servicing orbital data centers
- Long-horizon forecasts: humans living and working in space; physical labor increasingly done by robots
Guests
- Ethan Barajas — Co-founder & CEO, Icarus Robots
- Jamie Palmer — Co-founder & CTO, Icarus Robots
Why this matters
If half of Earth’s GDP is labor, the space economy scales only when on-orbit labor scales. Teleoperated robots that learn from expert demonstrations—then graduate to safe autonomy—are a credible bridge from today’s stations to tomorrow’s factories, data centers, and off-world bases.