Kirobo, the talking robot that also recognizes faces, was launched into space on August 4, inside a Japanese cargo transfer vehicle headed for the International Space Station.
The 13.4-inch-tall robot was created as part of the “Kibo Robot Project” at the University of Tokyo’s Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology.
Kirobo, whose name was created by mashing together the Japanese word for hope, “kibo,” with the word “robot,” will be able to use voice-recognition technology, natural-language processing, and facial recognition to speak with both astronauts in space and researchers back on Earth. Not only will Kirobo record the conversations it has with Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata (once the latter arrives at the space station toward the end of this year), but it’ll also help shuttle messages from the flight control room to the astronaut.
Kirobo will even show emotion when it meets with Wakata in space as the pair are already acquainted with one another having met prior to the robot’s departure on Aug. 4th.
The robot’s other goal is to see if it can become an emotional anchor of-sorts for “people isolated over long periods.”
Of course, it’s not as easy as it sounds for a robot to become an astronaut. Researchers had to subject Kirobo to a number of different tests to determine whether the robot would be suitable for its weightless mission, including thermal analysis testing, electromagnetic compatibility testing, and a test to determine whether the general background noise on board the Internal Space Station might otherwise interfere with the robot’s voice-recognition capabilities.
Prior to launch, Kirobo described his mission to the ISS as “one small step for me, a giant leap for robots.”
“I want to help create a world where humans and robots can live together,” Kirobo said when asked what its dream is by an official from Toyota Motor Corp., during the Kibo Robot Project‘s press unveiling in late June.
You can follow Kirobo’s mission online via Twitter using the name @Kibo_robo.
Filed under: Manned Space Flight
