14 DAY TRIAL // The International Space Station is huge as far as human-made space-faring objects go, but it is a bit cramped as far as living quarters for six people go.
Even so and, even if astronauts keep in touch with family, friends, and the planet below via the Internet and other means, it can get a bit lonely at times in space.
This is where Kirobo comes in, a Japanese space robot that has arrived on the ISS recently. Despite its description, the robot is far from menacing and is, in fact, rather cute.
That's not to say he's technologically unimpressive though or that he's only in space as a publicity stunt, though that part can't be ignored.
Kirobo is designed to test how well humans and robots can interact in space. It can recognize voice commands and does natural language processing, as well as facial gesture recognition.
Kirobo arrived in space in late August and uttered its first words, in Japanese, on August 21, but the video was only recently made available and the message translated.
Fittingly perhaps, Kirobo's first words were, "on August 21, 2013, a robot took one small step toward a brighter future for all."