Icarus raises $6.1M to take on space’s “warehouse work” with embodied-AI robots

Icarus, a startup founded by Ethan Barajas and Jamie Palmer, has raised $6.1 million in seed funding to develop intelligent, dexterous robots aimed at automating the labor-intensive cargo logistics tasks aboard the International Space Station (ISS). After interviewing astronauts, the founders identified that much of the astronauts’ time—trained experts with advanced backgrounds—is consumed by unpacking, repacking, and stowing cargo arriving every 60 days, rather than conducting scientific experiments. To address this inefficiency, Icarus is creating robots equipped with two arms and jaw grippers designed specifically for cargo handling tasks, starting with simpler robotic designs rather than humanoid forms to achieve about 80% of the needed dexterity. The company has demonstrated promising results with a terrestrial teleoperation demo involving unzipping and repacking real ISS cargo bags and plans to conduct flight testing through a parabolic flight campaign followed by a one-year demonstration aboard the ISS via Voyager Space’s commercial Bishop airlock. Initially,