Talking robot to blast into space for experiment in human/robot conversation

A small, humanoid robot will be flown to the International Space Station this summer to take part in the first experiment on conversation in space between a human and a robot.
The effort could speed the development of small robots that people could carry in their pockets like smartphones.
Kirobo, a 13.4-inch tall, 2.2-pound humanoid, black-and-white robot with red boots, is scheduled to take off for the space station on Aug. 4 aboard a Kounotori 4 cargo spacecraft that will lift off from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center. The robot will be unloaded and stowed until Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata arrives in November to take part in the experiment.
"Kirobo will remember Mr. Wakata's face so it can recognize him when they reunite up in space," said Kirobo's creator Tomotaka Takahashi, roboticist and founder of Kyoto University's Robo-Garage, one of the organization's behind the project. Takahashi was quoted in a report by the Agence-France Press, a French-based news agency.Kirobo, which can move its head and arms, stand up and even stand on one leg, is expected to help keep Wakata company, having conversations with him and possibly relaying information to him from the control room or ground engineers.