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.

SpaceX was finally able to launch its Dragon cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station this week after the initial launch was scrubbed due to poor weather conditions. The spacecraft is carrying a whole bunch of neat stuff to the ISS, including an upgraded version of an AI-powered floating robot that lost its cool when interacting with its astronaut handler. Roughly a year ago, the CIMON robot was being tested for its ability to act as a robotic assistant for the scientists aboard the space station. It's designed to provide information about crucial tasks, provide reminders, and offer helpful tips. Unfortunately, the first iteration of the bot that was tested in space had some emotional demons.

Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) have been joined by an AI robot called CIMON. The current ISS commander, German astronaut Alexander Gerst, was first to speak with CIMON. Gerst said "Wake up, CIMON" which prompted the robot to respond "What can I do for you?" CIMON and Gerst's first assignment was to perform a student-designed experiment with crystals. The robot, after recognising Gerst's face and positioning itself autonomously, provided instructions on how to conduct the experiment. On Earth, CIMON weight just five kilograms and was designed by Airbus.

An A.I. programmer responds to Annalee Newitz's "When Robot and Crow Saved East St. In 2018 the A.I. robot CIMON was sent to the International Space Station--and that's when the awkwardness began. A floating sphere with a digital face displaying a few simple expressions, CIMON was supposed to help astronauts through many-step procedures by displaying information and answering questions. When astronaut Alexander Gerst tested it, he found CIMON's maneuverability impressive but its social awareness perhaps less so. It had been programmed to know Gerst's favorite song, but had to be ordered multiple times to stop playing it. "Let's sing along with those favorite hits," it interrupted, as Gerst tried to get it to record video. Moments later it seemed to take exception to Gerst's mild comments on its flying ability. "Don't be so mean, please," it told him. "Don't you like it here with me?" Soon it seemed CIMON's mood detection system had a "hangry" category and had confusedly placed Gerst in it. "Oh, dear, I feel you.

A SpaceX delivery full of Christmas goodies arrived at the International Space Station on Saturday, following a slight delay caused by a communication drop-out. The Dragon capsule pulled up at the orbiting lab three days after launching from Cape Canaveral. Commander Alexander Gerst used the space station's big robotic arm to grab the cargo carrier, as the two craft soared 250 miles above the Pacific. It took two tries to get the Dragon close enough for capture. NASA called off the Dragon's first approach because of trouble with the communication network that serves the space station.

A SpaceX delivery full of Christmas goodies arrived at the International Space Station on Saturday following a slight delay caused by a communication drop-out. The American company's Dragon capsule pulled up at the orbiting lab three days after launching from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Commander Alexander Gerst used the space station's big robotic arm to grab the cargo carrier, as the two craft soared 250 miles above the Pacific. It took two tries to get the Dragon close enough for capture. NASA called off the Dragon's first approach because of trouble with the communication network that serves the space station.

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your Automaton bloggers. We'll also be posting a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months; here's what we have so far (send us your events!): Let us know if you have suggestions for next week, and enjoy today's videos. ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst welcomed a new face to the Columbus laboratory, thanks to the successful commissioning of technology demonstration Cimon. Short for Crew Interactive Mobile CompanioN, Cimon is a 3D-printed plastic sphere designed to test human-machine interaction in space.

German astronaut Alexander Gerst talked with the artificially intelligent crew-assistant CIMON during a 90-minute experiment on Nov. 15 aboard the International Space Station (ISS). According to a statement from the manufacturer, Airbus, Gerst, the commander of the current space station crew, woke up CIMON (the Crew Interactive Mobile CompanioN) with the words "Wake up, CIMON." In response, CIMON said, "What can I do for you?" [This Flying Space Droid Wants to Make Friends with Astronauts] 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.

The International Space Station has got a new team member and if this new shared footage is anything to go by, it's quite the character. AI bot CIMON (Crew Interactive Mobile Companion) was brought aboard earlier this year with the aim of assisting crew and boosting morale. But the floating basketball-shaped robot appeared to have its own opinions about what made for a happy crew, according to a new video shared by the station, which shows CIMON throwing a tantrum when told to stop playing music. The robot even accuses European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst of being'mean' and orders him to'be nice' before demanding to know when it's time for lunch. The video of began simply enough with Gerst asking CIMON, which is brought to life by IBM Watson artificial intelligence, to perform different commands and engages it in small talk throughout the demonstration.