JAPAN-ROBOT Companion robot "Kirobo" returns to earth and wins Guinness World records

Record ID: 401977

  • Title: JAPAN-ROBOT Companion robot "Kirobo" returns to earth and wins Guinness World records
  • Date: 27th March 2015
  • Summary: ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** KIROBO ROBOT PROJECT LOGO TOKYO UNIVERSITY RESEARCHER AND CEO OF ROBO GARAGE, TOMOTAKA TAKAHASHI, SAYING (Japanese): WELCOME BACK, KIROBO. WHAT DID EARTH LOOK LIKE FROM SPACE?" AND KIROBO, A COMPANION ROBOT, SAYING (Japanese): "EARTH WAS LIKE A BLUE LED LIGHT. IT WAS SHINING." KIROBO STANDING KIROBO BEING AWARDED TWO AWARDS BY ERIKA
  • Embargoed: 11th April 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA1DGZJDZZMHG2ZAKX173PB2YII
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    "Kirobo", a companion robot that recently returned to Japan from the International Space Station (ISS), was awarded two Guinness World Records on Friday (March 27) for being the first robot to have a conversation in space and reaching the highest height as a robot from earth.
    Kirobo is a joint project involving auto-manufacturer Toyota Corp, Japan's advertisement agency Dentsu Inc., and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
    The companion robot, which left earth in August 2013, described the way our planet was seen from space at an event in Tokyo on Friday, saying "earth was like a blue LED light. It was shining".
    Japan's first robot astronaut met its human colleague and JAXA astronaut commander, Koichi Wakata, at the ISS in December 2013.
    Kirobo was sent off to the ISS on a H-2B rocket and carried by the Kounotori 4 cargo spacecraft from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan a few weeks earlier.
    The 34 cm-(13 inches) tall robot which weighs 1 kg (2.2 Ibs) conducted experiments in space through verbal orders from Wakata and by remote-control from earth ahead of Wakata's arrival to the space station.
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