CIMON the first space robot

A space freighter Dragon of Space X takes off on June 29th for the Space Station (ISS). Travel on board CIMON first space robot with artificial intelligence

This robot developed by Airbus and DLR, the German space agency, embodies the project Mobile Companion, a survey of the European Space Agency (ESA), which explores the use of artificial intelligence "to alleviate the stress and workload of the crew during long-term space flights ".

Interactive MObile (CIMON) can see, hear, understand, speak and fly. It is approximately spherical, has a diameter of 32 centimeters and weighs five kilograms. His robotic predecessor was the "flying brain" of Professor Simon Wright, with sensors, cameras and a vocal processor in the 1978 cartoon series, "Captain Future".

Almost 40 years later CIMON the astronaut's flight and assistance assistant, could turn science fiction into a "scientific fact".

On board the orbital complex, CIMON will become the new "crew member" of the Space Station. International (ISS), to demonstrate the cooperation between human and intelligent machines in the form of a technological experiment.

Technology Watson AI from IBM Cloud provides artificial intelligence controlled by voice. The human aspects of the support system were co-developed and supervised by scientists from the Ludwig-Maximilian University Hospital in Munich. A DLR, Airbus, IBM and LMU project team of about 50 people has been working on the implementation of CIMON since August 2016.

"CIMON is unique in this way", summarizes Christian Karrasch, director of CIMON Project in the DLR Space Administration in Bonn . "We have implemented this experiment in a very short time, it is intended to show to what extent the work of astronauts can be supported in the European Columbus module in the ISS and to lighten them, in particular, from Routine tasks Use your time better and more efficiently With CIMON, we enter a new territory and operate on the threshold of technological feasibility. "

CIMON to arrive at the Space Station on Monday, July 2, with the remainder of cargo aboard the Dragon automatic ship.

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