Japan’s space agency is considering putting a talking humanoid robot on the International Space Station to watch the mission while astronauts are asleep, monitor their health and stress levels and communicate to Earth through the microblogging site Twitter. Following up on NASA’s Robonaut R-2 program, which is set for launch on the Discovery shuttle next week, the Japanese android would be part of a larger effort to create and refine robots that can be used by the elderly. The robot is being developed with the Japanese advertising and communications giant Dentsu and a team at Tokyo University.
Japan is one of the leading countries in robotics, and has a rapidly aging society with one of the world’s longest life-expectancies. Improving robot communication capabilities could help the elderly on Earth by providing a nonintrusive means of monitoring the robot owner’s health and vital signs and sending information to emergency responders if there is an abnormality, JAXA said.