Japan’s space agency JAXA announced this week that it is looking at a plan to send a humanoid robot to the space station in 2016 that could communicate with the ground through Twitter — primarily feeding photos, rather than original ideas — and provide astronauts with “comfort and companionship”.

　　Following up on US NASA’s “Robonaut” R-2 program, which is set for launch on the Discovery shuttle next week, the Japanese robot would be part of a larger effort to create and refine robots that can be used by the elderly, JAXA said in a statement.

　　Japan is one of the leading countries in robotics and has a rapidly aging society with one of the world’s longest life expectancies.

　　Improving robot communication capabilities could help elderly people on Earth by providing a nonintrusive (无干扰的) means of monitoring the robot owner’s health and vital signs and sending information to emergency responders if there is an abnormality, JAXA said.

　　“We are thinking in terms of a very human-like robot that would have facial expressions and be able to talk with the astronauts,” said JAXA’s Satoshi Sano.

　　The robot was being developed with the advertising and communications giant Dentsu Inc and a team at Tokyo University.

　　The NASA project has a human-like head, hands and arms and uses the same tools as station crew members. The “Robonaut” called R-2 is intended to carry out maintenance tasks in the station’s Destiny lab.

【2012高考二轮复习英语专题训练（江苏专用）专题2 阅读理解33】相关文章：

★ 2017年高考英语二轮复习精品资料：专题14 阅读理解（押题专练）（原卷版）

★ 【三维设计】2017届高考英语（江苏专用）二轮复习阅读理解解题技法示范课件：2

★ 2014届高考英语一轮复习必修2参考答案（外研版）

★ 2017届高考英语二轮复习书面表达限时测验：1（含解析）

★ 2017届高考英语二轮复习大题冲关秘籍阅读理解七选五：名校模拟（含解析）

★ 2017届高考英语二轮复习课时训练：21（含解析）

★ 2017届高考英语二轮复习课时训练：14（含解析）

★ 【优化方案】2017届高考英语二轮复习全国卷Ⅱ题型重组训练：第12组（含解析）

★ 2017年高考英语二轮复习精品资料：专题14 阅读理解（教学案）（原卷版）

★ 【课堂新坐标】2017届高考英语（通用版）二轮复习短文改错专题训练：模式1 缺一词（含解析）