{"id":18453,"date":"2018-06-30T01:02:35","date_gmt":"2018-06-29T17:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacexs-falcon-9-rocket-sends-ai-robot-pal-and-other-experiments-to-space-station\/"},"modified":"2018-06-30T01:02:35","modified_gmt":"2018-06-29T17:02:35","slug":"spacexs-falcon-9-rocket-sends-ai-robot-pal-and-other-experiments-to-space-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacexs-falcon-9-rocket-sends-ai-robot-pal-and-other-experiments-to-space-station\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket sends AI robot pal and other experiments to space station"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe title=\"SpaceX CRS-15: Falcon 9 launches Dragon &amp; spacecraft deployment\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AoDHwGA-XI8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off today from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, sending an AI-enabled, sphere-shaped robot companion to keep the International Space Station\u2019s crew company.<\/p>\n<p>The European CIMON robot, complete with a video-screen smiley face, is packed aboard an uncrewed Dragon capsule along with nearly three tons of additional experiments and supplies for the space station.<\/p>\n<p>Launch came at 5:41 a.m. ET (2:41 a.m. PT) after a trouble-free countdown. The rocket ascended to eastward just before sunrise, producing spectacular views of the illuminated exhaust plume in the sky.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m glad I got the opportunity to see the Dragon\u2019s Tail in person,\u201d one of the spectators, Taylor Harris, said in a tweet.<\/p>\n<p>The Falcon 9\u2019s first-stage booster and the Dragon have both been previously flown \u2014 but today SpaceX made no attempt to recover the booster for a second time, primarily because the model has been rendered obsolete. Instead, the first stage fell into the Atlantic while the second stage pushed the Dragon onward to orbit.<\/p>\n<p>The cargo capsule is due to rendezvous with the space station on Monday.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1012636797719990272&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2018%2Fspacex-falcon-ai-robot-pal-space-station%2F&amp;sessionId=a17c04c5286f6deeeff430ea9a26e0e5f890ea6b&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1012636797719990272\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i178280287568721087=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Our #NASASocial group enjoying the view of @SpaceX CRS-15!  GO Falcon 9! GO #Dragon! pic.twitter.com\/I46HQDahGe<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NASA&#8217;s Kennedy Space Center (@NASAKennedy) June 29, 2018<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Other experimental robotic assistants have been previously sent to the station, including free-flying spheres as well as Robonaut 2, an android that was equipped with maneuverable arms and legs. But CIMON is the first bot built to converse with human crew members, thanks to IBM\u2019s Watson artificial-intelligence technology.<\/p>\n<p>The robot\u2019s name, pronounced like \u201cSimon,\u201d is an acronym of sorts that stands for Crew Interactive Mobile Companion.<\/p>\n<p>CIMON is meant to blaze a trail for future free-flying machines that could provide a word of advice and a friendly face for astronauts working in space.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStudies show that demanding tasks are less stressful if they\u2019re done in cooperation with a colleague,\u201d IBM team leader Matthias Biniok said in a pre-launch blog post.<\/p>\n<p>During a series of experiments, CIMON will help German astronaut Alexander Gerst conduct crystal experiments, solve a Rubik\u2019s Cube puzzle based on videos, and serve as an intelligent flying camera for medical experiments.<\/p>\n<p>CIMON\u2019s facial recognition system is programmed to recognize Gerst (but not the other five spacefliers on the station, at least for now). The voice-enabled spaceball can read off checklists for a given procedure, or make small talk on the fly.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a sample of CIMON\u2019s humor: \u201cI\u2019m R2-D2 \u2026 just kidding!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The robot head is equipped with a power-off button&nbsp;\u2014 just in case the space station\u2019s crew gets sick of its jokes, or it shows any signs of turning into the villainous HAL computer from \u201c2001: A Space Odyssey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Robot in space: Alexander Gerst and CIMON head for the ISS | DW English\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KnpJI3WeiBg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>For more about the Dragon\u2019s science payloads, check out this report from NASA.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off today from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, sending an AI-enabled, sphere-shaped robot companion to keep the International Space Station\u2019s crew company. The European CIMON robot, complete with a video-screen smiley face, is packed aboard an uncrewed Dragon capsule along with nearly three tons of additional experiments and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[130,717,21,316],"class_list":["post-18453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-international-space-station","tag-space","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18453"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18453\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}