Japan Launches Kirobo, The Talking 'Robot Astronaut', Into Space

Today, Sunday, August 4, 2013, early in the morning Japan launches HTV-4 (Kounotori 4) cargo ship with a talking robot on it's board! The ship was launched by The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) atop of the rocket H-2B.

The mission of this robot is to do communication experiments with commander Wakata in space!

Meet Kirobo, the Astronaut Robot

The Kirobo space robot is a diminutive mechanical person just 13 inches (34 centimeters) tall, built to converse with astronauts on long space voyages. The robot, and its ground-based counterpart Mirata, are part of the Kibo Robot Project to develop new technologies to enhance human-robot interaction in space. Kirobo speaks Japanese and is expected to talk to JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata when he arrives at the space station in November.

Kirobo, comes from the words, "hope" and "robot".
希望 [きぼう] [kibou] = hope
ロボット [robotto] = robot

To check on the lasted updates of the Kirobo mission, follow him @Kibo_robo via Twitter.
Also, check out the video below how Kirobo communicates, and also to find out more about his misson.


Check out for more info, the space.com article.

@Kibo_robo.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

HTV-4 (Kounotori 4)

HTV-4 (Kounotori 4)

HTV-4 (Kounotori 4) cargo ship

HTV-4 (Kounotori 4) cargo ship

HTV-4 (Kounotori 4) cargo ship

HTV-4 (Kounotori 4) cargo ship

HTV-4 (Kounotori 4) cargo ship

HTV-4 (Kounotori 4) cargo ship