Robot Dog in Space

VK.com has partnered with the Russian space agency to become the first social networking website to operate in space via a robot dog. 10 October 2016. Ten years after Pavel Durov — now of Telegram messenger fame — has launched what would later become the Russian Facebook, VK is announcing their VK Space initiative in a 10-year-anniversary press event.
In 2017, VK and Russian space agency Roscosmos are going to use the robotic version of the social network’s mascot, Spotty the Dog, as the ‘fourth crew member’ for the March flight to the International Space Station. Inspired by the Soviet space dog program, Spotty is going to follow in footsteps of the legendary dog Laika, the first animal in space, and become the first robot dog (or a ‘space bot’ as it was christened by VK) to orbit the planet. The spherical space bot is equipped with an action camera and a mic to produce audio and visual content in space to be sent over to VK’s servers on Earth. Spotty is also able to receive videos, photos and messages from VK users which it could broadcast to the ISS crew via a built-in projector.
At the same time, Spotty’s page is going live at vk.com/space which is powered by a custom-built neural network AI framework allowing every VK user to message Spotty, their first ‘friend’ in space. The space dog is able to answer questions about space and the universe, share the latest photos and videos that it took on the ISS, and talk on variety of subjects. The VK development team does not rule out the possibility for further use of the AI outside the space-themed project.