Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are about to get an AI personal assistant. Known as CIMON (Crew Interactive MObile CompanioN) the bot, developed by Airbus, will use IBM's Watson AI technology to help astronauts. Researchers hope that with its face, voice and artificial intelligence, it will become a genuine'colleague' on board, helping astronauts with their daily routines, and warning of any impending problems - much like the HAL robot in Stanley Kubrick's 2001 was designed to do. Known as CIMON (Crew Interactive MObile CompanioN) the bot will use IBM's Watson technology to help astronauts. CIMON is designed to support astronauts in performing routine work, for example by displaying procedures or – thanks to its'neural' AI network and its ability to learn – offering solutions to problems.
Alexander Gerst will test the technology demonstrator aboard the ISS Watson AI (IBM's artificial intelligence technology) is designed to support space flight crews Friedrichshafen / Bremen, 26/02/2018 – Airbus, in cooperation with IBM, is developing CIMON (Crew Interactive MObile CompanioN), an AI-based assistant for astronauts for the DLR Space Administration. The technology demonstrator, which is the size of a medicine ball and weighs around 5 kg, will be tested on the ISS by Alexander Gerst during the European Space Agency's Horizons mission between June and October 2018. "In short, CIMON will be the first AI-based mission and flight assistance system," said Manfred Jaumann, Head of Microgravity Payloads from Airbus. "We are the first company in Europe to carry a free flyer, a kind of flying brain, to the ISS and to develop artificial intelligence for the crew on board the space station." Pioneering work was also being done in the area of manufacturing, Jaumann continued, with the entire structure of CIMON, which is made up of plastic and metal, created using 3D printing.
SpaceX's Friday-morning mission to the International Space Station (ISS) will include a new crew member quite unlike any other. The name of the new addition is CIMON (pronounced Simon) and it's being sent to act as a mobile autonomous assistance system. Think HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Moon's GERTY, and Holly in the BBC's Red Dwarf. Developed by Airbus and Germany's DLR space agency, and powered by IBM's Watson supercomputer, CIMON will be the first form of artificial intelligence (A.I.) to arrive on the space station, where it will aid the astronauts with their research work and presumably become their buddy, as well. CIMON, which stands for Crew Interactive MObile companioN, is about the size of a volleyball and has a display built in.
Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has progressed in virtually every sector in the world. AI has made leaps and businesses have redesigned their models. From law to smartphone manufacturing, every sector has been impacted with emergence and application of AI. Leading tech giants have provided AI assistants in their smartphones. Alexa, Siri, and others have been assisting users by recognizing speech and performing desired actions such as booking a table or searching a place to purchase a nice perfume. Moreover, Russian tech firm Yandex has developed an AI assistant Alice, which gives sassier responses over the polite ones. It makes sassy remarks instead of offering empathy and support. AI assistants are not limited to smartphones only. Airbus has collaborated with IBM to develop an AI assistant to help astronauts in space stations and missions.