AI-based floating head to assist ISS astronauts
A 3D-printed artificial intelligence system – described by its creators as a “flying brain” – will soon join the crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to assist astronauts. Airbus, an aeronautics company based in Netherlands, is developing CIMON (Crew Interactive MObile CompanioN), an AI-based space assistant for Germany’s DLR Space Administration. The technology demonstrator, which weighs around five kilogrammes, will be tested on the ISS by German astronaut Alexander Gerst during the European Space Agency’s Horizons mission between June and October this year.
“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,” said Jaumann. The entire structure of CIMON is made up of plastic and metal, created using 3D printing. CIMON has a brain-like AI network and is designed to support astronauts in performing routine work, for example by displaying procedures or offering solutions to problems.
With its face, voice and artificial intelligence, becomes a genuine ‘colleague’ on board. With CIMON, crew members can do more than just …read more
