International Space Station's spherical flying robot speaks up for the first time

[Judi Lynn]

Nick Lavars
4 hours ago

A first-of-its-kind robotic helper has completed its first day on the job at the International Space Station, with ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst powering up the CIMON assistance system and putting its conversational skills to the test.

CIMON, which stands for Crew Interactive Mobile CompanioN, is a medicine-ball-sized plastic sphere that was 3D printed and equipped with software by IBM Watson for AI capabilities. Built by Airbus for the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the free-flying robot is made to float around the ISS and provide its astronauts with support for routine tasks, as well as companionship and a form of stress relief.

The robot was fired up for the first time last month, with Gerst carrying out his first interactions over the course of a 90-minute session, glimpses of which can be seen in the video below. In it, he can be seen telling CIMON to wake up, asking the robot its name, where it comes from, and even having it play his favourite song "Machine Man," by German band Kraftwerk.

Things then go beyond the small talk, as CIMON displays and voices instructions for a crystallization experiment, tests out its ultrasonic sensors and streams video using its front-facing cameras. This was intended as a demonstration of its ability to assist crew members in a variety of ways.

More:
https://newatlas.com/iss-cimon-robot-speaks/57486/

[DetlefK]

1. I have seen people complaining that the astronaut is a sociopath and racist against robots.

Here we have intelligent people, in all earnesty, complaining that the astronaut treats the chatbot like an object and not like a person.

And because he treats an (obviously defective) chatbot like an object that fails to do what it's supposed to do, that's evidence that he's a sociopath and racist.

https://gizmodo.com/in-video-debut-cimon-the-iss-robot-throws-an-unexpecte-1830768737

CIMON is the squirrely one?

3:58 - Gerst engadges in some awkward, possibly threatening, movement that looks vaguely like an attempt at “dancing” but may be a veiled ‘imma f you up’ gesture.

4:08 - Gerst shakes CIMON like a baby that WON’T SHUT UP, WHY WON’T YOU SHUT UP?!

5:34 - Gerst says, possibly threatingly, ‘You think this is not nice? You ain’t seen “not nice” yet.’

5:57 - A witness shows up and Gerst, who’s already shaken poor CIMON twice, is all like, “I don’t want to disturb him right now.”

6:07 - Gerst gets called out on his abuse in front of witnesses and he plays it off with a ‘kids, huh? whadyagonnado?’ laugh.

6:16 - Gerst starts victim blaming. “He’s a bit sensitive today. hahaha”

There may be a sociopathic killer on the ISS but based on what I saw the HAL9000 reference points the finger in the wrong direction.

I thought I was the only one who took Gerst’s behavior as less than inviting. Especially the shaking and the “you don’t know me when I’m not nice” comment. I was half-expecting him to slap it across the cabin...

And every time he used the word “please,” it sounded extremely forced. I’m pretty sure he’s racist. Against silicon-based life forms. And that’s where I’ve seen behavior like that before - from white people (who swear they aren’t racist) interacting with black folks. Trying their damndest to act like a normal human being, but something about the way they act is off...

I was watching this with the same ‘haha, stupid AI’ POV that was the gist of the article till that “you don’t know me when I’m not nice” popped out of nowhere. Like a bucket of ice water dumped on me, that was totally shocking. I went back and watched again and that whole interaction looked totally different with that comment echoing in my ears.

Even if I’d seen nothing else, that phrase alone is a stunning revelation. I’ve never heard things like it from anybody but violent people excusing their violence by saying it isn’t as violent as they could be.

[Javaman]

2. Well at least it's favorite song isn't "a bicycle built for two". nt