NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has announced the use of “robot dogs” to explore Mars. The robot is a modification of the Cyberdog from Boston Dynamics, known on the Internet from YouTube videos in recent years. One day, the bots will become autonomous and smart enough to explore the Martian caves that will protect the people visiting Mars. The explorer was great, but not the most adaptable or fast little bot.
At the December 14, 2020 meeting of American Geophysical Union (AGU), held online this year, NASA/JPL-Caltech announced a new family of robotic explorers referred to as “Mars Dogs.”NASA
Weighing 70 pound, Au Spot can move three times faster than a normal explorer. However, the Au Spot is ideal for exploring the caves of Mars, an area of great interest to those planning future manned missions on the planet. Satellite images of the red planet have shown over 1,000 potential caves. Those who make such trips are likely to find refuge in caves, avoiding punishment in the form of the harsh dust of the planet, harsh cold weather and ultraviolet rays. However, this place is not currently the place where the rover can broadcast. On the other hand, the incredible flexibility and smart features of the Au-Spot are allowing scientists on Earth to see if caves can really benefit astronauts of the future. Bot pup can come down from such caves. Thanks to the Onboard LIDAR, that can create a 3D map of the site. The built-in AI also allows the bot to explore the terrain to make sure it doesn’t get blocked or damaged when hitting obstacles.
Provide communication modules strategically along the way to inform your command personnel what they are doing when they are below the surface.
Au-Spot can even intelligently choose from a variety of trails, making it a much more flexible tool than today’s explorers. Much of what explorers do are pre-programmed routines – improvisations require communication with a human controller to return to Earth in about 22 minutes while the signal is flying.
Au-Spot is the robot developed by team of 60 scientists and engineers working together as CoSTAR, or the Collaborative SubTerranean Autonomous Resilient Robots. They’ve customized and prepared a factory-fresh Spot, outfitting it with the NeBula (Networked Belief-aware Perceptual Autonomy) system that makes it autonomous or independent enough to successfully navigate new environments and conditions.