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Robotics Japan Space

Cute Japanese Robots To Be Launched Into Space 90

Posted by samzenpus from the manga-space dept.
astroengine writes "This summer, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to launch two amazingly cute yet advanced, white-helmeted robots into space. Then an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will attempt to converse with one of them. Robot astronaut Kirobo and backup robot Mirata were created as part of the Kibo Robot Project, a collaboration among Robo Garage, Toyota, the University of Tokyo and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency JAXA. They aim to send the robots with the JAXA mission to the ISS on Aug. 4."
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Cute Japanese Robots To Be Launched Into Space More

Cute Japanese Robots To Be Launched Into Space

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  • they are cute!

  • Speed Racer, Racer-X, Trixie and Pops (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Where did my childhood go.

    • Re:Speed Racer, Racer-X, Trixie and Pops (Score:5, Interesting)

      by AliasMarlowe ( 1042386 ) on Friday June 28, 2013 @12:14AM (#44129645) Journal

      Where did my childhood go.

      If you're not still in your childhood, you must be in a coffin.
      Childhood should last almost a century.

  • until we're being invaded and enslaved by cute plastic robots that have multiplied and evolved on the moon.

  • I keep looking at that cute little thing (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 27, 2013 @11:49PM (#44129547)

    and I keep seeing Mega Man for some strange reason.

  • And yet, (Score:3, Informative)

    by Ultracrepidarian ( 576183 ) on Friday June 28, 2013 @12:03AM (#44129605)
    When it was time to clean up the mess at the Fukushima nuke plants it was U.S. robots that were rushed in.

  • These robots... (Score:4, Funny)

    by zakkudo ( 2638939 ) on Friday June 28, 2013 @12:05AM (#44129611)
    I'm not sure how you're supposed to hump these??? Maybe they are not actually from Japan.
    • "This summer, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to launch two amazingly cute yet advanced, white-helmeted robots into space. Then an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will attempt to **** with one of them."

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      The Palin Method: Drill Baby Drill

  • "One day this robot came floating through, Sam, and I realized he was missing an arm. He says, "konnichiwa" and we just chuckled and were like, "little dude, where's your arm??" And then about two weeks later...Mike and Yuriy were trying to sort out an engineering mess, and it was getting kind of tense, and this little robot head...comes floating by, kind of tumbling..."kon...ni...chi...wa"...we all just lost it. I have no idea who it was but MAN it just summed up our feelings perfectly..."
  • Which has a book bag which could hold a fixed amount of goods, your current figure may start the action. Your current figure could hold additional goods by simply holding more luggage.

  • We have to do something to close the cuteness gap with Asia. We must find a way to be more competitive in adorability or else our economy will get, well, ugly.

    Children must be taught to pucker and smile more, or face consequences such as no TV or games. Perhaps those who are adorably gifted should be put in special classes to hone their skills.

    America grew complacent after it invented the Teddy Bear and the Campbells Soup Twins and zoomed ahead of Europe in cuteness when the best they could do was mimes and

    • We have to do something to close the cuteness gap with Asia. We must find a way to be more competitive in adorability or else our economy will get, well, ugly.

      Children must be taught to pucker and smile more, or face consequences such as no TV or games. Perhaps those who are adorably gifted should be put in special classes to hone their skills.

      America grew complacent after it invented the Teddy Bear and the Campbells Soup Twins and zoomed ahead of Europe in cuteness when the best they could do was mimes and nutcracker soldiers with big teeth.

      However, Asia has grabbed the mantel and is kicking our non-cute little butts. Big butts actually.

      This sounds like a task to be undertaken jointly by the Cutie Mark Crusaders (MLP: FiM), Gosalyn Mallard (Darkwing Duck), Kit Cloudkicker (Tale Spin), and Huey, Louie, Dewey, and Webby (Duck Tales).

      That should be enough concentrated cuteness to close the gap with Japan.

      • I'm sorry, but have you even being keeping up? Maybe these would have been competitively cute 10-15 years ago, but cuteness has been growing at an exponential rate. And furthermore, it's not just the intensity of the cuteness, but also the sheer output of cuteness. Even if we could manage to get a 3:1 cuteness intensit advantage, we still wouldn't be able to compete. Japan has cute everything. A recent series went so far as to make some of Lovecraft's eldritch abominations into cute girls. If we wish

  • I hope they are able to do some cool science with it too. It'd be great if they could teach it to autonomously do zero angular-momentum maneuvers, IE reorientate itself the same way a cat does. Or see if they can get it to do
    zero gravity jump "walking." [mit.edu] Think Ender's Game.

    The former should be easy to accomplish with what they are up-porting, while the latter could probably be done if they send up a motion capture set up.

    At the very least, it should help cancel out the creepiness of Robonaut's new slenderma [twimg.com]

  • Kent Brockman quote (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    And I, for one, welcome our new cute robot overlords!

  • Yes, but why? (Score:3)

    by Camael ( 1048726 ) on Friday June 28, 2013 @01:42AM (#44129885)

    Interestingly, the hiragana letters for the word "kibo" on their website means hope/aspiration [reader.bz].

    I do wonder what's the purpose of the trip though, since the robots can jolly well try to communicate with another human on Earth. Its not to test the effects of weighlessness since their video shows that they already tested for zero-G [youtube.com].

    Promotional event, maybe?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) *

      It's to test interaction with humans in space. Bad translation I'm afraid.

      The idea is to develop robots that can both help and keep humans company in space. On a long trip to Mars it would be desirable to have more than just a small crew of humans to interact with.

      Japan is making a lot of progress in this area. They already have robots that keep the elderly company in active service. They might not seem terribly sophisticated but then again you can't have a deep and meaningful conversation with a cat either

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Nidi62 ( 1525137 )

        Unlike pets the robots look after themselves and don't eat you if you die too.

        Let's just hope the robots never figure out they can do that.

  • That's terrible .... people wouldn't treat a dog like th...... Oh wait!

  • Japan should be building an army of Pikachu bots to launch aboard all deep space probes.

    Won't the ET's be surprised when, expecting to be visiting a world of cute little yellow guys, and find...us?

  • I just watched the video ( too bad I can't understand the Japanese ). Utterly cool. I already find myself thinking about how the next generation could look like, and what capabilities it would have the current generation has not ( yet ). One thing, though, puzzles me: what about using a material different than plastic ? If these robots are to ever go on a space walk or do work in hard vacuum, their plastic parts are going to be broken down quite rapidly by cosmic radiation, most of all, however, by UV radi
    • Titanium and cute? That just doesn't work...

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        That's where you take the Titanium Alloy and work it into Gundanium... although I suppose all the sharp edges could make for a few hazards.

  • They're so cute :-)

  • Even better, the Pocket Spacecraft project has started its Kickstarter

    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1677943140/send-your-own-pocket-spacecraft-on-a-mission-to-th [kickstarter.com]

    "We’ve developed a very low cost, open source, open access, mass space exploration system that anyone can use, and we need your help to send your very own Pocket Spacecraft, and thousands of others, on a first of its kind expedition to the moon."

    A dude from the project had a stand at the recent RPi day in @Bristol and the whole
  • but how many parts were made in China?
  • "I'm sorry Dave, you're not cute enough to do that..."

  • Then an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will attempt to converse with one of them.

    Is that really it? Tamagotchi in space?

    I was hoping they would at least try to get robots up there which can do something.

  • It could have been tribbles.

  • I don't live in Japan, but I don't understand how the use of money can be justified for Cute Japanese Robots || Launched Into Space, over "taking care of your fucking citizens who in certain areas have huge energy issues, and in others have earthquake and flooding issues."

    Chicken and egg - who came up with the stupid spending plan first? U.S. or Japan?

    Wait, why am I even asking this question?

  • Domo Arigato Mr Astroboto (Score:4, Funny)

    by zlives ( 2009072 ) on Friday June 28, 2013 @12:44PM (#44134833)

    I appreciate their cuteness but their is only one kind of robots i want out of Japan

  • Or am I just really, really old?

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