Russia may test its first robotic helper that will assist cosmonauts on spacewalks as early as in November 2020, a senior official at Russia’s Roscosmos space agency told Sputnik.

Sergey Savelyev, the deputy chief of the agency’s international cooperation department, said RSC Energia had won a $42-million contract to build the robot, which sets the testing deadline for 2020.

"The prototype… will be ready for launch to the International Space Station by November 2020. We plan to test the robot in an ISS science energy module during 2021-2024," Savelyev said.

The Korolyov-based Energia corporation has teamed up with other experienced robot makers from Russia, including the Russian State Scientific Center for Robotics and Technical Cybernetics (RTC) and OJSC Android Technics.