Germany & Japan's ISS robots team up for historic AI-guided mission

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have announced a successful collaborative mission involving two independently developed robots aboard the International Space Station (ISS). This pioneering experiment, conducted last week, featured Japan's JEM Inboard Portable Video Camera System Demonstration Unit 2, known as Int-Ball2, and Germany's Crew Interactive MObile companion, or CIMON.

Int-Ball2 is an internal ISS drone, primarily controlled remotely by JAXA ground staff. Its function is to capture images, thereby freeing astronauts from routine photographic tasks. CIMON, a project of DLR with support from Airbus and IBM, is equipped with AI-powered voice recognition. Astronauts can interact with it vocally to request information or to use its integrated cameras for hands-free photography. Crucially, both robots were developed independently by their respective organizations, without initial design considerations for inter-robot collaboration.

During the experiment, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, while in the ISS's Columbus European Laboratory, issued a voice command to CIMON. He instructed CIMON to direct Int-Ball2 to locate a specific item within the Kibo Japanese Experiment Module. CIMON successfully processed Onishi's verbal instructions, translated them into commands comprehensible by Int-Ball2, and relayed these commands to the Japanese drone.

Following the relayed instructions, Int-Ball2 proceeded with the task. It then streamed live video footage of its search back to CIMON, which displayed the feed on its own screen, allowing Astronaut Onishi to observe the drone's operation in real-time.

JAXA has confirmed that this marks the first instance of two independently developed robots from different organizations successfully collaborating in orbit. The agency expressed satisfaction with the experiment's success in establishing seamless communication, both between the robots in orbit and with ground control.

In a statement, JAXA emphasized the significance of the mission, noting, "The knowledge gained from this mission is expected to form the basis for efficient collaborative operations between astronauts and robots in future manned space activities."