Talking robot companion blasts off for ISS
Digital Content Editor
Sunday, August 4, 2013, 6:34 PM -
In just a few days, the six astronauts aboard the International Space Station will be joined by a seventh crew-member -- a 34-centimetre robot called "Kirobo."
The unlikely space-bot launched from Tanegashima Space Centre in Japan in the early morning hours Sunday, along with five tons of supplies.
There's plenty of robotics technology aboard the station as it is (Canada has kind of made a name for itself in that field), but this one's purpose is as a companion, not a work-horse:
It will accompany (and, one presumes, chat with) astronaut Koichi Wakata, who blasts off for the station in November and become its first Japanese commander a few months later.
Boasting highly advanced voice recognition technology, Kirobo will relay messages from mission control to Wakata, in Japanese.
We can't wait to see shots of the little guy floating around the space station.
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