“On August 21, 2013, a robot took one small step toward a brighter future for all.” – Kirobo the Robot
AsianScientist (Sep. 6, 2013) – Those were the first words uttered by robot astronaut Kirobo from outer space, captured in video footage provided by Dentsu Inc. this week.
Kirobo, known affectionately as Kibo, flew into outer space on August 4 aboard the H-IIB Launch Vehicle No. 4. The spacecraft was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan, and Kibo arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on August 10.
Along with backup crew member Mirata, Kibo is one of the two humanoid communication robots 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. and Toyota Motor Corporation. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) also provided cooperation on the project.
JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata, the first Japanese commander of the ISS, is expected to arrive at his post in November or December this year. He will then take part in the world’s first conversation experiment held between a person and a robot in outer space, an initiative designed to explore the possibilities of humans coexisting with robots in the future. The conversation will take place in the ISS’s Japanese Experiment Module “Kibo,” which means “hope.”
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Source: Dentsu Inc.
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