Japanese scientists develop humanoid to keep astronauts company

The Telegraph ^ | 12/2/12 | Julian Ryall

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Astronaut Koichi Wakata and an artist's impression of the robot Photo: EPA

The 13-inch android is scheduled to be completed by next summer and will be sent to the orbiting ISS shortly before astronaut Koichi Wakata arrives, according to officials of the Kibo Robot Project.

Currently being developed by a consortium of companies, including Toyota, Robo Garage Co. and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the robot will weigh around 2.2lbs and be able to recognise Wakata's facial features.

It will then have the ability to communicate with the astronaut in Japanese and take photographs during their stay on the space station.

A second android will be developed at the same time to serve as a backup and to demonstrate the device's capabilities to audiences here on Earth.

In a statement, the organisers said the robot will be designed to "help solve social problems through communication".

"The main objective is that humans can talk to it and feel some sort of closeness to it," the developers said. "That is why we decided to give it a humanoid shape."

Through the project's web page – http://kibo-robo.jp/en/ – organisers are calling on members of the public to give the robot a name before it is sent on its mission.

[1010RD]

Given their insularity, demographic meltdown and debt, in 100 years Japan will be one giant robot factory run by robots. When a human being says, “Japanese”, they’ll mean our word “robot”.

Stories of flesh and blood Japanese will fall into myth and their samurai stories will be cast into the fog of lost knowledge.