Dentsu Inc. has announced the names “Kirobo” and “Mirata” for two humanoid communication robots being developed under the KIBO ROBOT PROJECT, a joint research project being carried out in collaboration with the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the University of Tokyo, ROBO GARAGE Co., Ltd., and Toyota Motor Corporation.

This project is developing a friendly Robi-like robot, “Kirobo”, that will stay at the International Space Station (ISS) with astronauts after the summer of 2013 to carry out the first conversation experiment between a human being and a robot in space, when he talks to Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata. This mission will be conducted with the official support and cooperation of the companies mentioned above.

The robot needs to pass all 12 rigorous tests/experiments required to become an astronaut.

Kirobo is 34cm tall and 1,000g. He has conversational ability in the Japanese language with speech recognition technology, speech synthesis function, motion for communication, information and communication capability, a face-recognition camera, camera for recording, etc.

His look-alike robot “Mirata” was made as a backup for Kirobo and will join in events such as educational activities with kids.