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.

[null and void]

Shade of Sirent Running...

[Eye of Unk]

Rightttttt...

And those ingenious Japs also make some realistic sex dolls that can also speak, so which would an astronaut prefer on a 2 year journey to Mars?

[billorites]

he robot will be designed to "help solve social problems through communication".

Just what I've always wanted:

A Japanese love doll with OnStar.

[KC_Lion]

I have come up with a better idea.

[null and void]

It would get to be a snow globe in there real fast.(so say’s nully’s kid)...

[Doogle]

[teflon9]

[Riley]

Can it sing ‘Daisy Bell’?

[freedumb2003]

I thought they already created one:

[ffusco]

What is it? Like the Orb in Sleeper?

[null and void]

Weighed Companion Cube. That would be my kid’s FR screen name.

[Young Werther]

He must be properly dressed for the MISSION!

[billorites]

Oh, lemme think...

Real-life crazy astronut in a diaper...

or faux fox with off switch...

[mountn man]

In this PC world, they will realize that the “created” humanoid will not have companionship of his own kind. So they will make a militant femanist version to keep the humanoid company. The original will “discover” that it is gay, and the astronaut will lock himself in his room to be away from the 2 of them.

[KC_Lion]

That my FRiend, is a Weighted Companion Cube.

He Never threats to Murder you, call you fat or stab you in the back.

He is a really good friend.

[Bratch]

[GeronL]

Why would the Japanese need robots? To them middle school does just as well.

[driftdiver]

Can't believe nobody has posted a reference to Galexina yet.

[NonValueAdded]

"My girl robot ..."

How about a Cherry 2000 to go?

[smokingfrog]

Cherry 2000

[Eye of Unk]

I’m surprised nobody has mention the pleasure units from Blade Runner.

[GeronL]

I think this would be the most popular one in Japan

[Eye of Unk]

If I had to travel in space for two years I would rather be connected to a virtual realty program that would allow my dreams to have substance, sure a physical object would something handy to keep around, sort of like a fancy digital torque wrench from Snapon that interfaces through your Android phone.

[Chode]

never come close to Six...

[Eye of Unk]

If I had to travel in space for two years I would rather be connected to a virtual reality program that would allow my dreams to have substance, sure a physical object would something handy to keep around, sort of like a fancy digital torque wrench from Snapon that interfaces through your Android phone.

[exDemMom]

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

Maybe it's just me, but I don't really see the utility in a robot that speaks Japanese.

On a more serious note, I wonder that the Japanese don't seem as affected by the uncanny valley as Westerners. I've always found dolls and mannekins incredibly creepy; when they're animated, the creepiness goes up a few fold. Yet I see Japanese crowding around these ghastly things as if they were as cute and cuddly as little bunnies. How humanlike will this robot be, in the end?

[MIchaelTArchangel]

How long does it take to inflate?

[Kakaze]

The 13-inch android is scheduled to be completed by next summer and will be sent to the orbiting ISS

Is his nick name "Chuckie" ?

[MasterGunner01]

How about an anatomically correct female/male robot for zero G sexcapades? Like the 1973 movie “Westworld” but without the homicidal gunfighter [Yul Brynner] that goes about blowing away the human guests.

[Atlas Sneezed]

DOL 9000

[Eye of Unk]

The Japanese have indeed created sex doll robots of the highest quality, but it will be the Chinese that will duplicate a human, a fish, a snake or a bird. In the quasi reality of Blade Runner the planet will be full of replicants.

And some will desire to be even more human.

Now if I really had my choice I would have a re-programmed Terminatrix from Skynet labs. Change her face, her body, her voice, the possibilities are endless.

[BwanaNdege]

“I’m sorry, Dave...”

[Secret Agent Man]

well there ya go. get it interactive and you’ve got cherry 2000.

[Moonmad27]

My first thought was it would turn out to be Marvin the Paranoid Android, but I’m glad someone on this remembered Quark!

[DTogo]

"help solve social problems through communication".

Very ironic to be coming from a country known for high suicide rates, and bizarre personal behavior such as Hikikomori and Otaku.

[dljordan]

LOL!!!!

[Redcitizen]

Now these models would be great company in space.

[ClearBlueSky]

Wow this became about sex fast! I was thinking C3PO only a little less melodramatic and pessimistic. If the Japanese get around to full sized humanoid `droids` I want one that cooks,drives and does housework.

[AZLiberty]

From an earlier era ...

[Ken H]

[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.