CIMON the ‘Flying Brain’ back on Earth after 14 months on the ISS

CIMON has spent 14 months aboard the International Space Station, it is a robotic assistant recently returned to Earth.  It enhances to work easier for the astronauts when carrying out every day routine tasks,” Airbus said of the robot, adding that it can “increase efficiency, facilitate mission success, and improve security, as it can also serve as an early warning system for technical problems.”

Crew Interactive Mobile Companion (CIMON) returned to Earth on 27th August aboard a SpaceX CRS-18 spacecraft. CIMON is a computer assistant-based on artificial intelligence, engineered to help astronauts on their missions in the cosmos. Hence, it is designed to behave as a regular crew member as it floats in Zero G as a member of the Airbus team describes it to be a ‘Flying Brain’.

On 15 November 2018, for duration of 90 minutes, Artificial Intelligence was able to recognize faces and easily traverse through the microgravity environment of the space station using the 12 onboard internal fans. It showed that it functions well in microgravity conditions and can interact successfully with astronauts.

With the help of CIMON, we were able to lay the foundations for human assistance systems in space to support astronauts in their tasks and perhaps, in the future, to take over some of their work,” Karrasch said.

In 2018, CIMON project won the US ‘Popular Science Award’ in the category ‘Best of What’s New in 2018’ for space. Airbus was also awarded the ‘German Innovation Award 2019’ in the category ‘Large Enterprises’.

Source: DIGITAL TRENDS