Feb 25 2011
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has declared that it will launch a humanoid in 2013 to the International Space Station to serve as an interactive companion for crewmembers living aboard the station.
The twitter utilizing robot could share photos with astronauts, guard over the space station while others take rest. It could also check health and strain levels of the astronauts.
Satoshi Sano, Engineer at JAXA, has stated that they are looking forward to including facial responses in the humanoid for effectively interacting with the crewmembers.
It was reported that JAXA will work along with Dentsu and a research team of Tokyo University for developing the humanoid. JAXA has mentioned that the technology can also be used to perform similar investigations on Earth.
The humanoid will already have a robotic companion Robonaut 2 on the outpost. The 300-pound R2 humanoid will be sent on the Discovery shuttle. It will help crewmembers to perform daily tasks in the station’s Destiny laboratory. Presently, the robot has restricted motion and the developers are looking forward to modifying it to enable it to easily navigate both inside and outside the space station as well as to accompany astronauts during highly risky spacewalks.
Source: http://www.jaxa.jp