There was a time where astronauts on the International Space Station were all alone. But with the advent of Artificial Intelligence, now they feel less lonely. Crew Interactive MObileCompanioN (CIMON) is an AI Astronaut Assistant that is developed by German space agency DLR, Airbus, and IBM. The project lead for this first free-flying AI astronaut, Matthias Biniok, was approached for this big project in 2016. Their main aim, was to build a robot and send it into space for providing assistance.

CIMON (The Crew Interactive Mobile Companion 2) has been busy working with astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The robotic assistant is now using a tone analyzer, detecting emotions during the current voyage. CIMON made its debut on the ISS in November of this year, with Space.com's "During the experiment, CIMON successfully found and recognized Gerst's face, took photos and video, positioned itself autonomously within the Columbus module using its ultrasonic sensors, and issued instructions for Gerst to perform a student-designed experiment with crystals. Weighing about 5 kilograms (11 lbs. on Earth), the 3D-printed robot designed jointly by the German space agency DLR, Airbus, and IBM works similarly to Apple's virtual assistant Siri or Amazon's Alexa. "If CIMON is asked a question or addressed, the Watson AI firstly converts this audio signal into text, which is understood, or interpreted, by the AI," explained IBM project lead Matthias Biniok in the statement. "IBM Watson not only understands content in context, [but] it can also understand the intention behind it." There is a great video here, of Gerst conversing with CIMON, and it shows the complexity of this fantastic technology. Especially regarding the amount of relevant information that it can store and relay to astronauts, making their jobs easier. The Watson team at IBM computing only added the tone analyzer to the standard set of Watson capabilities this week. However, CIMON 2 was added as a seventh crew member on SpaceX Dragon during a resupply mission last week. In addition to updated software, the robot also got a hardware upgrade, with enhanced sensitivity on its microphones, and a more advanced sense of orientation. The German Aerospace Center and Airbus are the other crew members for this CIMON project. "IBM is using its tone analyzer technology to analyze how CIMON converses with the astronauts.

The next iteration of a floating, artificially intelligent astronaut assistant is on its way to the International Space Station (ISS). Developed by Airbus in partnership with IBM and the German Aerospace Center, CIMON 2 is the latest model of the robot CIMON, short for Crew Interactive Mobile Companion. The first iteration, CIMON 1, weighed eleven pounds and served as a free-floating AI assistant for astronauts as they completed mission duties in space. The assistant was able to understand what the astronauts were saying in context, as well as the intention behind it. Like tabletop assistants, CIMON 1 could recognize speech and speak with a synthetic voice.

This week, astronauts on the International Space Station got a new helper that goes by the nickname'Simon.' More formally known as Crew Interactive Mobile Companion 2 (CIMON 2), Simon was developed in a joint project by IBM's Watson team, Airbus, and the German Aerospace Center. The Crew Interactive Mobile Companion 2 (CIMON 2, pronounced'Simon,' pictured above) will help astronauts conduct experiments and talk through their feelings The robotic helper was delivered to the ISS on SpaceX's Dragon capsule launched from Cape Canaveral this week. Last year, an earlier model of CIMON was sent to the ISS, but the new version has been updated with AI enhancements that IBM says will make it more'emotionally intelligent.' 'The overall goal is to really create a true companion,' IBM's Matthias Biniok told ABC. 'The relationship between an astronaut and CIMON is really important.'