Can Humans and Robots Coexist?
Kirobo in the ISS just before his return to Earth
Astronaut Koichi Wakata held the world’s first conversation experiment between a robot and a human in outer space, and conducted research for a future in which humans and robots coexist.
Leading ad agency Dentsu has announced that Kirobo, the robot astronaut that spent eighteen months aboard the International Space Station (ISS), returned to Earth Monday.
According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the USA, Kirobo boarded SpaceX’s CRS-5 Dragon cargo supply spacecraft at 7:09 p.m. on Tuesday, February 10, and left the ISS.
The spacecraft was expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean at 0:44 a.m. today, February 11, (Greenwich Mean Time). A debriefing session on Kirobo’s return to Japan is scheduled to be held in Japan in late March.
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Kirobo and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata held the world’s first conversation experiment between a robot and a human in outer space, and conducted research for a future in which humans and robots coexist.
Kirobo’s basic specifications:
- Dimensions: Height: 34 cm, Width: 18 cm, Depth: 15 cm (approx.)
- Weight: 1000 g (approx.)
- Language: Japanese
- Main features: Voice recognition, natural language processing, voice (speech) synthesis, telecommunications functions, gestures, facial recognition camera, recording camera
Robot astronaut Kirobo was developed under the Kibo Robot Project, a joint research project carried out in collaboration with the University of Tokyo’s Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, Robo Garage Co., Ltd., Toyota Motor Corporation, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
