Skip to main content

Video shows ‘Alexa in space’ aboard the International Space Station

Back in June an artificial intelligence (A.I.) robot called CIMON was sent to the International Space Station (ISS) to act as a voice-powered assistant to the astronauts there. Now the European Space Agency has released a video showing CIMON interacting with the ISS crew for the first time.

Horizons science – Cimon

CIMON, which stands for Crew Interactive MObile companioN, was sent to the ISS to test out whether a robot equipped with artificial intelligence can help improve crew efficiency and morale — two big problems when a small crew is on a long mission that may include many repetitive tasks. CIMON is a 3D printed plastic sphere about the size of a volleyball and has a screen which displays a rough outline of facial features and text. He was developed and built by Airbus in Germany, and thanks to the lack of gravity, CIMON’s 11 lb. mass floats happily around the ISS.

Recommended Videos

Interactions between CIMON and the crew are still a little awkward. Basic tasks like asking CIMON to play a song or getting CIMON to show the required equipment and procedure for on-board tasks work well, but more in-depth naturalistic conversations are beyond CIMON right now. Sometimes the bot will respond with: “Sorry, I am just a robot. I don’t know everything you mention,” sounding a lot like the ever so common and frustrating phrase from Alexa: “I’m sorry, I don’t understand the question.”

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Things in the video get a little bit HAL 9000-esque when CIMON refuses to get out of music mode and reprimands astronaut Alexander Gerst to “Be nice, please,” and creepily asks, “Don’t you like it here with me?” CIMON even tells Gerst off, telling him, “Don’t be so mean, please.” There are clearly some bugs to be worked out in the communications between man and machine before CIMON is ready to act as a full-fledged assistant aboard the space station.

Eventually, CIMON should be able to help with a host of tasks on board the ISS like taking photos and videos, documenting experiments, locating lost objects, and maintaining an inventory. The ESA says that CIMON’s developers are happy with this initial use of the technology, and they hope to develop further collaborations between astronauts and robotic assistants in the future.

Georgina Torbet
Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…
Check out this cool NASA image of SpaceX Crew-3’s ride home
A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft docked at the ISS.

A stunning image shared by NASA shows the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft at the International Space Station (ISS) just a few days before it brings home the Crew-3 astronauts.

Crew Dragon Endurance docked at the International Space Station about 250 miles above Earth. NASA

Read more
NASA footage shows SpaceX Crew-4 training for ISS mission
SpaceX Crew-4 astronauts.

NASA has shared raw footage of SpaceX’s Crew-4 astronauts training for their space station mission that’s set to get underway in just a few days' time.

The 30-minute reel (below) shows NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines, and Jessica Watkins, along with Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency, undergoing a range of training techniques to prepare them for the ride to and from the International Space Station (ISS), as well as their six-month stay aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Read more
NASA’s private Ax-1 crew gets some extra time in space
The Ax-1 crew aboard the space station.

NASA’s first private astronauts at the International Space Station (ISS) are getting a bit of extra time in space for their multimillion-dollar fees.

Poor weather conditions at the landing site off the coast of Florida has prompted NASA to delay the departure from the ISS by about 12 hours. Calm sea conditions are needed to allow the recovery vessel to safely approach the capsule after it lands in the water.

Read more