Japanese space agency JAXA and Germany’s DLR have conducted what they say is the first collaboration between independently developed robots on the International Space Station.
The experiment took place last week and involved Japan’s JEM Inboard Portable Video Camera System Demonstration Unit 2 (Int-Ball2) and Germany’s Crew Interactive MObile companion (CIMON).
Int-Ball2 is a drone that flies inside the ISS. JAXA ground staff can control it remotely and use it to take photos that would otherwise require an astronaut’s attention.
CIMON, developed by DLR with help from Airbus and IBM, possesses AI-assisted voice recognition capabilities that astronauts can command to retrieve information. It also includes cameras that ISS crew can use to take hands-off snaps.
The two bots are the result of independent development efforts, and their designers did not envision them working together.
Astronaut Takuya Onishi with Int-Ball2 and CIMON – Click to enlarge
But last week, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi visited the ISS’s Columbus European Laboratory and spoke to CIMON, telling the bot he wanted to order Int-Ball2 to find an item in the Kibo Japanese Experiment Module. CIMON understood astronaut Onishi’s instructions, converted them into instructions for Int-Ball2, and transmitted them to the Japanese bot.
Int-Ball2 did as instructed, and streamed video of its quest back to CIMON, which displayed the live feed on its screen so Onishi could watch the bot work.
JAXA says this was the first time two robots independently developed by different organizations have worked together in orbit, and is chuffed that the experiment successfully achieved communication with the ground and between robots in orbit.
“The knowledge gained from this mission is expected to form the basis for efficient collaborative operations between astronauts and robots in future manned space activities,” JAXA enthused. ®