“From Up Ubove, the World Glowed like a Blue LED” – says Toyota Robot

“From Up Ubove, the World Glowed like a Blue LED” – says Toyota Robot

 Toyota reports success in developing world’s first Robot & Human ‘Bro’ Talk

On 4^th August 2013 Toyota sent a Robot named Kirobo to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a transfer vehicle from the Tanegashima Space Centre. Kirobo has been on duty as an experiment on conversations conducted between a robot and a human in space. Yesterday, the 1^st of April, the robot splashed down back on earth on board a cargo supply craft from the ISS having kept company of Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata for 18 months and its first words after being recovered were; “From up above, the Earth glowed like a blue LED.”

The experiment sought to seek insight into how humans and robots might co-exist in the future – a far cry from the dramatic idea seen the i-Robot Blockbuster movie starring Will Smith, we hope – and immediately after its arrival the robot was presented with a pair of Guinness World Record citations for: “The first companion robot in space” and “The Highest altitude for a conversation between man and robot at 414.2 km above sea level.

Kirobo Specifications

Dimensions: height 34cm, width 18cm, depth 15cm (approx.)
Weight: approx. 1kg
Language: Japanese
Main features and functions: voice recognition, natural language processing, voice (speech) synthesis, telecommunications, gestures, facial recognition camera, recording camera.