Global researchers can now develop and test code for a sub-millimetre digital twin of NASA’s Houston space operations facility without needing physical hardware.
On July 6, 2026, researchers from National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Johnson Space Centre and Rice University launched the Integrated Mobile Evaluation Testbed for Robotics Operations (iMETRO) Dynamic Simulation, the world’s first open source dynamic simulation environment dedicated to intravehicular robotics (IVR), the robots that work inside space vehicles and indoor habitats.
Nikki Hart is the first author of the study, a Rice University doctoral student, and a NASA Pathways intern. Lydia Kavraki is a renowned algorithmic robotics professor and collaborator at Rice University. Shaun Azimi is the lead for NASA Johnson’s Dexterous Robotics team, working alongside project co-authors Nathan Dunkelberger, Erik Holum, and Emma Zemler.
The primary goal is to maximize astronaut efficiency. Astronauts currently spend roughly a third of their time on routine tasks like hauling trash or cargo. Automating these tasks frees them up for critical science and exploration. By open-sourcing the software, the collaboration allows global researchers, startups, and academic labs to develop and test space robotics code without needing expensive, custom physical hardware setups.
The platform functions as a high-fidelity digital twin of NASA’s physical iMETRO ground facility in Houston, matching it down to the sub-millimetre.
The team validated the simulator by building a remote operation application entirely in the virtual environment and successfully transferring it to the physical NASA hardware in less than a day. The framework includes a model conversion tool and provides ROS 2 (Robot Operating System) hardware control interfaces to the MuJoCo physics engine.
