When Alexander Gerst flew into space for the second time in 2018, he had a smart helper with him. Cimon, a spherical robot that flies and gives advice to Astro-Alex. Matthias Biniok played a large part in this, he developed the “flying Siri” for the ISS.
On Earth it’s “Hey, Siri” or “Hey, Alexa”. In space, “Hey, Cimon” is appropriate instead, because the spherical robot visited the International Space Station in 2018 along with German astronaut Alexander Gerst. “I can tell him: Cimon, fly to the biolab, turn 30 degrees to the left and make a video of it,” reports Matthias Biniok in the ntv podcast “So techt Deutschland”. Because he developed the flying Siri at IBM Germany for the ISS.
Cimon stands for “Crew Interactive Mobile Companion”. The name says it all, says Biniok. The spherical robot with cute eyes flies around the ISS on its own and answers urgent questions from the astronauts or provides help. After all, the everyday life of astronauts is packed with complicated tests and repairs.
You can make a “real crew companion” out of Cimon, explains the IBM manager – for every situation. The astronauts could also joke with Cimon when they feel lonely in space.
Joint project with Airbus
The knowledge of the robot head, which weighs five kilograms, is based on Watson, IBM’s computer program for artificial intelligence. In principle, however, Cimon is a German joint project commissioned by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). IBM taught him to think. The German offshoot of Airbus has taken care of the airworthiness.
Nevertheless, there is a need to catch up in this area in Germany, says Biniok. “I think there are different problems that we have in the field of AI.” The research is great, says the IBM manager. But European cooperation has room for improvement.
In the new episode of “So techt Deutschland” he reports what plans IBM still has with Cimon and where Biniok also sees the moral limits of artificial intelligence.
In “So techt Deutschland” the ntv moderators Frauke Holzmeier and Andreas Laukat ask founders, investors, politicians and entrepreneurs how things are with Germany as a technology location. All episodes can be found in the ntv app, at AudioNow, Apple Podcastsand Spotify. Also at Amazon Music and Google Podcasts you will find it.