For gloom and loneliness
Robot support for bricklayers in space
A remedy for bad moods: the robot Cimon is to keep German astronaut Matthias Maurer company on the International Space Station ISS.
"If he ever feels bad, Matthias will say: 'Cheer me up a bit, tell me a joke or tell me something funny', and then something will come," said the head of the European Space Agency Esa, Josef Aschbacher, to the German Press Agency in Paris.
The Cimon assistance system is a free-flying robot the size of a medicine ball with voice control and a display. Cimon is already on the ISS and is intended to support the astronauts in their daily work. It can help if they have questions about certain tasks. For example, whether a cable should be soldered on the left or right, explained Aschbacher.
The idea behind this was that the missions would eventually become longer. "First of all, of course, you need the information," said Aschbacher. For longer flights in particular, it is not possible to contact NASA's flight control center in Houston directly. But Cimon is also about more, explained Aschbacher, namely "that this artificial intelligence companion also provides some company and entertainment, which is of course always very desirable".
Maurer was launched to the ISS together with three Nasa astronauts on November 11. His German predecessor on the space station, Alexander Gerst, was already able to count on Cimon's help in space.
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