Robots aren’t only taking over our duties as factory workers and amusement park guides. They’re also slowly taking over our cool jobs too, like on the International Space Station, where Kibo will serve to entertain Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata with inspirational tweets from earth — and also look adorable floating around in zero gravity.
Based on the existing Robi robot kit, Kibo has been enhanced with Japanese language recognition technology courtesy of Toyota, which will allow Wakata to communicate with it and send replies back to earth. Designed by Tomotaka Takahashi — the guy who made all those record-setting EVOLTA battery endurance bots — Kibo could very well be the most adorable thing man has launched into space since those Russian dogs, Belka and Strelka. [Kibo Robot Project via Gizmag]