Wouter van Ooijen wrote:

>>ISS is supposed to get a 
>>canadian-built (same as 
>>the shuttle) robotic arm with two 'gripping' ends, so it 
>>could creep around 
>>the ISS like a caterpillar, but I don't think it's ready yet.

> Are you sure? IIRC the canadian arm is one side fixed, and already
> operational.

It IS operational, but it is TWO handed.

http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/news/2001/news-sts100.asp
For example, Canadarm2 won't be tied down to one spot.
Each end of the new arm has a hand that can grasp an
anchor on the Station.  By flipping end-over-end between
anchor points, Canadarm2 can move around the Station like
an inchworm.  The arm also has seven joints, making it
even more agile than a human arm.

> 
> The european (ERA) arm I worked on is definitely a crawler, but AFAIK
> not launched yet.

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