The world’s first robot astronaut has begun chatting to the Japanese commander of the International Space Station, in what was being billed as the first conversation of its kind.<\/p>\n
Kirobo, a pint-sized android equipped with artificial intelligence and capable of learning how to respond appropriately to humans, even put a marker down for Christmas, telling Koichi Wakata he expected a visit from a certain man bearing gifts.<\/p>\n
“Santa Claus will come to space,” Kirobo, wearing a Santa hat, told Wakata as they drifted in zero gravity hundreds of miles (kilometres) above the Earth.<\/p>\n
“What will you ask for from Santa Claus, Kirobo?” asked the Japanese astronaut.<\/p>\n
“I want a toy rocket… let’s ask Santa Claus.”<\/p>\n
The unscripted conversation, in Japanese, was held on December 6, with footage unveiled on Friday. It is part of a longer-term project to see how a robot can act as a companion for isolated people, particularly to see if it can develop conversational skills.<\/p>\n
The wide-eyed and bootie-wearing Kirobo — roughly the size of a chihuahua — left Earth on a cargo-carrying rocket and reached the space station on August 10.<\/p>\n
Wakata along with Mikhail Tyurin of Russia and NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio joined him at the ISS in November.<\/p>\n
“We’ve had some trouble before having the robot carry on the conversation smoothly,” said developer Tomotaka Takahashi.<\/p>\n
“When people develop a relationship, it is an accumulation of small bits of communication. Small things make it work or not work,” he said. “We’ve learnt important tips to develop a robot that can communicate with people more.”<\/p>\n
Kirobo and his interlocutor managed several minutes of spontaneous conversation aboard the ISS, which included the robot giving very general opinions.<\/p>\n
“How was it when the rocket launched?” Wakata asked the machine.<\/p>\n
“It was exciting!” Kirobo replied.<\/p>\n
Kirobo and a twin android, Mirata, which stayed on Earth were created jointly by advertising firm Dentsu, the University of Tokyo, robot developer Robo Garage and Toyota.<\/p>\n