An emotionally intelligent AI could support astronauts on a trip to Mars

And in just a few years, Akin hopes to see Fiona the Future come to life. Fiona wouldn't even necessarily be a physical robot, but rather a cross-platform system running on a spacecraft like Gateway (NASA's upcoming lunar space station), or a habitat on the moon or Mars. There's no commitment yet for this to be part of Artemis or Gateway, but the company is working actively with other players in the space industry to ink some sort of initiative. Yearsley says any hope of making Fiona a part of Gateway or Artemis means Akin must have reliable prototypes out by September. Should that fail, Akin will see if its AI can be tested in more isolated settings, like Antarctica, or in different contexts, such as assisting elderly or disabled people.