<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"We knew this day would come. We may have been too scared to give it voice, but deep down inside, we all knew that robots would one day have the capability to speak to humans (and in outer space no less). We also figured that these robots would be built by the Japanese, just not necessarily by an automaker. Yet that&amp;#039;s just what Toyota has announced today. The robot in question is called Kirobo, and while /he/ it is humanoid in form, it stands barely more than a foot tall and weighs just over two pounds. The Kibo Robot Project, as the program is known, is a joint effort between a number of parties, including the University of Toyko, Robo Garage, Dentsu Marcom, and Toyota. The latter&amp;#039;s role was to provide Kirobo&amp;#039;s voice and face-recognition software, which Toyota in turn hopes will help inform its development ventures for future applications. We imagine this might include in-car infotainment systems, car-to-car communications, and maybe even production robots.  Having already undergone a battery of tests simulating launch and zero-G conditions, Kirobo is scheduled to leave Earth for the International Space Station (ISS) in August, where it will then rendezvous with Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) several months later. Meanwhile, a clone bot, dubbed Mirata, will remain on the ground with mission control. In December, the two are scheduled to conduct their first conversation in space, after which Commander Wakata will return to Earth next summer, leaving Kirobo alone in the ISS until the end of next year. Just what it intends to do with us once it re-enters our atmosphere remains to be seen, but we&amp;#039;re gonna start packing our survival gear now and suggest you do the same. (Disclaimer: Road &amp;amp;amp; Track and its publisher Hearst Magazines can neither recommend nor dissuade you from preparing for the impending arrival of robots from space.)      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/news/a4842/go-news-toyota-to-send-a-talking-robot-to-space/?src=global_footer>