Robot Astronaut Kirobo Awarded Two GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ Titles
March 27 2015 - 12:30AM
Business Wire
Dentsu Inc. (TOKYO: 4324) (ISIN: JP3551520004) (President &
CEO: Tadashi Ishii; Head Office: Tokyo; Capital: 74,609.81 million
yen) announced today that Kirobo, the robot astronaut developed
under the KIBO ROBOT PROJECT, a joint research project carried out
in collaboration with the University of Tokyo’s Research Center for
Advanced Science and Technology, ROBO GARAGE Co., Ltd., Toyota
Motor Corporation, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
(JAXA), has been awarded two GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS titles.
Kirobo (Photo: Business Wire)
Kirobo arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on
August 10, 2013 and spent a total of eighteen months there, holding
the world’s first conversation experiment in outer space between a
robot and a human, JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata, and conducting
research for a future in which humans and robots coexist.
On February 10, Kirobo came safely back to Earth aboard SpaceX’s
CRS-5 Dragon cargo supply spacecraft which splashed down in the
Pacific Ocean off California, and then arrived back in Japan on
March 12. Kirobo’s first words after returning home were: “From up
above, the Earth glowed like a blue LED.”
At the debriefing session held today at the National Museum of
Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo, the project members gave
a summary report and showed a video of the highlights of Kirobo’s
activities aboard the ISS. The session was chaired by Fuminori
Kataoka, project general manager in the Product Planning Group of
Toyota Motor Corporation, and the two speakers were Tomotaka
Takahashi, the president of ROBO GARAGE Co., Ltd. who is also a
visiting research fellow at the University of Tokyo’s Research
Center for Advanced Science and Technology, and Yorichika
Nishijima, a copywriter in Dentsu Inc.’s Business Creation Center
as well as head of the Dentsu Robot Center. Kirobo also appeared on
stage to chat with the project team members.
Erika Ogawa, Vice President Japan, Guinness World Records Ltd,
then presented Kirobo with two GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS
certificates:
(1) “The first companion robot in space is Kirobo
(Japan), which arrived at the International Space Station on 9
August1 2013.” (2) “The highest altitude for a robot to have a
conversation is 414.2 km above mean sea level and was achieved by
Kirobo (Japan) on the International Space Station on 7 December
2013.” 1 The dates certified by GUINNESS WORLD
RECORDS are based on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) whereas the dates
provided elsewhere in this press release are based on Japan
Standard Time (JST).
Reference Material
Kirobo’s basic specifications
-- Dimensions: Height: 34 cm, Width: 18 cm, Depth: 15
cm (approx.) -- Weight: 1000 g (approx.) -- Language: Japanese --
Main features: Voice recognition, natural language processing,
voice (speech) synthesis, telecommunications functions, gestures,
facial recognition camera, recording camera
Key project developments to
date
Nov 29, 2012 The project is announced; the public begins
proposing robot names. Jun 26, 2013 Kirobo and backup (ground) crew
member Mirata are completed and introduced at a press conference.
Aug 4, 2013 Kirobo leaves Japan for the ISS aboard the Kounotori 4
transfer vehicle from the Tanegashima Space Center. Aug 10, 2013
Kirobo arrives at the ISS. Aug 21, 2013
Kirobo speaks his first words in outer
space:“On August 21, 2013, a robot took one small step toward a
brighter future for all.”
Nov 7, 2013 JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata boards the Russian
spacecraft Soyuz and arrives at the ISS the same day. Dec 6, 2013
Kirobo and JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata hold the world’s first
conversation experiment between a robot and a human in outer space.
May 14, 2014 JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata returns to Earth. Feb 11,
2015 Kirobo returns to Earth. Mar 12, 2015 Kirobo returns to Japan.
Mar 27, 2015 Kirobo takes part in a debriefing session.
KIBO ROBOT PROJECT Official Site: http://kibo-robo.jp/
[About the Dentsu Group]
Dentsu is the world’s largest advertising agency brand. Led by
Dentsu Inc. (Tokyo: 4324; ISIN: JP3551520004), a company with a
history of 113 years of innovation, the Dentsu Group provides a
comprehensive range of client-centric brand, integrated
communications, media and digital services through its eight global
network brands—Carat, Dentsu, Dentsu media, iProspect, Isobar,
mcgarrybowen, Posterscope and Vizeum—as well as through its
specialist/multi-market brands including Amnet, Amplifi,
Data2Decisions, Mitchell Communications (PR), psLIVE and 360i.
The Dentsu Group has a strong presence in 124 countries across
five continents, and employs around 40,000 dedicated professionals.
Dentsu Aegis Network Ltd., its global business headquarters in
London, oversees Dentsu’s agency operations outside of Japan. The
Group is also active in the production and marketing of sports and
entertainment content on a global scale.www.dentsu.com
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Dentsu Inc.Shusaku Kannan, (813) 6216-8042Senior
ManagerCorporate Communications Divisions.kannan@dentsu.co.jp