Dentsu Inc. (TOKYO: 4324) (ISIN: JP3551520004) (President & CEO: Tadashi Ishii; Head Office: Tokyo; Capital: 74,609.81 million yen) announced today that Kirobo, the robot astronaut that spent eighteen months aboard the International Space Station (ISS), is scheduled to return to Earth tomorrow.
According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the USA, Kirobo will board SpaceX's CRS-5 Dragon cargo supply spacecraft at 7:09 p.m. on Tuesday, February 10 (Greenwich Mean Time) and leave the ISS. The spacecraft is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean at 0:44 a.m. on Wednesday, February 11 (Greenwich Mean Time). A debriefing session on Kirobo's return to Japan is scheduled to be held in Japan in late March.
Kirobo and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata held the world's first conversation experiment between a robot and a human in outer space, and conducted research for a future in which humans and robots coexist.
Robot astronaut Kirobo was developed under the KIBO ROBOT PROJECT, a joint research project carried out in collaboration with the University of Tokyo's Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, ROBO GARAGE Co., Ltd., Toyota Motor Corporation, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
Kirobo's basic specifications
-- Dimensions: Height: 34 cm, Width: 18 cm, Depth: 15 cm (approx.)
-- Weight: 1000 g (approx.)
-- Language: Japanese
-- Main features: Voice recognition, natural language processing, voice (speech) synthesis, telecommunications functions, gestures, facial recognition camera, recording camera
Key project developments to date
Nov 29, 2012 The project is announced; the public begins proposing robot names.
Jun 26, 2013 Kirobo and backup (ground) crew member Mirata are completed and introduced at a press conference.
Aug 4, 2013 Kirobo leaves Japan for the ISS aboard the Kounotori 4 transfer vehicle from the Tanegashima Space Center.
Aug 10, 2013 Kirobo arrives at the ISS.
Aug 21, 2013 Kirobo speaks his first words in outer space:
"On August 21, 2013, a robot took one small step toward a brighter future for all."
Nov 7, 2013 JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata boards the Russian spacecraft Soyuz and arrives at the ISS the same day.
Dec 6, 2013 Kirobo and JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata hold the world's first conversation experiment between a robot and a human in outer space.
May 14, 2014 JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata returns to Earth.
Feb 11, 2015 Kirobo scheduled to return to Earth.
http://kibo-robo.jp/