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 2017 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.

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