Cute, floating cube robots arrive at the International Space Station

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Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/05/02/cute-floating-cube-robots-arr.html

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I for one welcome our new cube bot overlords!

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Weightless companion cubes!

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I incinerated mine in record time…

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The Queen has stayed on Earth.

That’s the sinister line spoken by the scientist who reveals to the audience and their companions what is really going on. The actors all look at each other, ashen-faced, then return their attention to their glowing screens.

Can we please send the Queen also? So, like, it’s not here on Earth?

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I hope someone plays some Jonathan Coulton on their speakers.

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“Maybe Black Mesa…?” cracks me up every time.

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Yes. Please. Space!

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It’s Eric!

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When I was a kid plastic boxes were a little more emotional.

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Cute? Until they eat you.

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Given (at least) one past ISS incident regarding… let’s say… raunchy Russian cosmonauts, and one very angry and disinclined American female astronaut, recorder-armed cube robots should – for the most part – be very welcome… and the more up there, the better.

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“Hey Bumble, hey Honey, bring your scrubbing tools, there’s work to do ASAP!”

What took NASA so long? :roll_eyes:

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image https://statici.behindthevoiceactors.com/behindthevoiceactors/_img/chars/haro-mobile-suit-gundam-the-origin-5.74.jpg

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Mary Roach (in her book Packing for Mars) wrote that ISS astronauts reported that the ISS smells like the locker room to the boy’s gym.

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:scream:

I get it that the pressurized atmosphere in the ISS causes rapid outgassing of some manmade materials.

I get it that the ISS is have major problems with its electrical power right now.

I could guess that the air circulation, filtration, scrubbers, and re-processing system is not ideal.

But locker room smell? I can only imagine how bad. Yuck! And you can’t even leave, or go outside to get some fresh air.

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I have no idea if ISS is able (if some ability exists at all) to successfully deodorize tough surfaces (e.g. cloth; ex: sleeping bags) or if they get periodically swapped out. Whatever the case there, in reading the book, I thought there was some mention made of the occupants getting used to the odors, although my mind may have imagined that detail as an anti-yuck psychological protective measure.

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