Crew Interactive Mobile Companion (CIMON) or Flying Brain, A 3D-printed Artificial Intelligence system for assisting astronauts in the International Space Station (ISS) has been created by the Netherlands based aeronautics company Airbus for Germanys DLR Space Administration that will soon join the crew aboard ISS. CIMON with its face, voice and artificial intelligence has a brain-like AI network that is designed to support astronauts in performing routine work, such as by displaying procedures or offering solutions to problems and becomes a genuine colleague on board.
- CIMON will be the first AI-based mission and flight assistance system.
- CIMON’s entire structure is made up of plastic and metal, created using 3D printing.
- CIMON is a technology demonstrator which weighs around five kilogrammes
- CIMON makes work easier for the astronauts when carrying out every day routine tasks, helps to increase efficiency, facilitates mission success and improves security.
- CIMON can also serve as an early warning system for technical problems.
- CIMON helps crew members do more than just work through a schematic view of prescribed checklists and procedures, and engage with their assistant.
- CIMON will be tested on ISS by German astronaut Alexander Gerst during the European Space Agency’s Horizons mission between June and October this year.
- CIMON will be tested particularly on GNC algorithms (Guidance, Navigation and Control) under zero gravity conditions on it first flight to the space.
- CIMON will only be equipped with a selected range of capabilities in its first Space mission.
- In the medium term, aerospace researchers also plan to use the CIMON project to examine group effects that can develop over a long period of time in small teams and that may arise during long-term missions to the Moon or Mars.
- In the success of long-term missions Social interaction between people and machines, between astronauts and assistance systems equipped with emotional intelligence could play an important role
- Airbus developers are convinced that, here on Earth, developments of the assistance system could also find future use in hospitals and social care.
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