R2D2-like robot going to space from Florida on SpaceX rocket
A floating robot head built with the personality of the “Star Wars” droid R2D2 is scheduled to head into space early Friday to join astronauts on the International Space Station.
Known as CIMON, the orbshaped computer will be among the 5,900 pounds of cargo scheduled for a 5:41 a.m. liftoff aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Airbus and IBM collaborated to build the 11-pound device, which is roughly the size of a medicine ball and is embedded with the traits of some of Hollywood’s more-famous robots, including R2D2.
“The single most important thing on the ISS is time,” said Matthias Biniok, the IBM developer who worked on CIMON, in a statement. “We at IBM believe CIMON … will give astronauts back valuable time, allowing them to be more effective during their missions.”
The mission is set to take off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the Space Coast. The weather appears to be favorable for a launch, with the U.S. Air Force’s weather team on the coast predicting a 90 percent chance of conditions that could support a launch.
CIMON is aboard a cargo load that includes other efforts to eventually cure cancer, simplify crop science and enhance performance for high-tech medical devices like laser scalpels. CIMON will include a mobile video camera, which will help document the work being done on the ISS.
German astronaut and geophysicist Alexander Gerst will help test CIMON, which stands for Crew Interactive Mobile Companion, with the robot serving as his assistant on experiments already in space.
Officials say it will mark the first time an artificial intelligence-based robot interacts with astronauts in space.
CIMON is designed to support astronauts and serve as a digital assistant during routine work.
Once testing is done, Gerst will work with CIMON first to solve a Rubik’s cube, then perform a “complex medical experiment,” during which the robot will serve as a flying camera.
The goal of the research is to eventually help astronauts on long-term space missions and to be applied to health and social care on Earth.
The cargo will go up in one of SpaceX’s previously used Dragon capsules, powered by a previously used Falcon 9 booster.
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