The SPACE THEA Project

TL;DR

The paper presents the development and testing of an empathetic voice assistant prototype for astronauts, designed to support them emotionally and operationally during isolated space missions, using Google Assistant and Dialogflow.

Contribution

It introduces a novel voice assistant with personality traits tailored for space missions, demonstrating its application across diverse scenarios faced by astronauts.

Findings

Prototype shows effective empathy in simulated scenarios

Supports operational and emotional needs of astronauts

Demonstrates technical feasibility of personality-based voice assistants in space

Abstract

In some situations, no professional human contact can be available. Accordingly, one remains alone with one's problems and fears. A manned Mars flight is certainly such a situation. A voice assistant that shows empathy and assists the astronauts could be a solution. In the SPACE THEA project, a prototype with such capabilities was developed using Google Assistant and Dialogflow Essentials. The voice assistant has a personality based on characteristics such as functional intelligence, sincerity, creativity, and emotional intelligence. It proves itself in seven different scenarios designed to represent the daily lives of astronauts, addressing operational crises and human problems. The paper describes the seven scenarios in detail, and lists technical and conceptual foundations of the voice assistant. Finally, the most important results are stated and the chapters are summarized.