Building on the success of its land rovers and drone helicopter, NASA is developing human-like robots it intends to send to the moon, Mars, and elsewhere to explore caves.
The project, called BRAILLE (Biologic and Resource Analog Investigations in Low Light Environments), hopes to investigate the biologic properties inside caves and develop the best strategies to explore them in outer space. Researchers are already using early technology prototypes to explore “Mars-like caves” discovered on Earth, CBS News reported.
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Scientists believe caves are the most likely places on other celestial bodies to find evidence of past or present life, noting these materials have been protected from damaging solar rays and temperatures. More crucially, caves could provide shelter for future astronauts.
“Future potential human exploration missions can benefit from robots in many different ways,” Ali Agha, who heads the project at NASA, told CBS. “Particularly, robots can be sent in precursor missions to provide more information about the destination before humans land on those destinations. In addition, robots can accompany astronauts during the missions to help with scouting certain terrains or with logistics and many tasks that can make astronauts’ missions safer and more efficient.”
Designing a robot for other planets requires figuring out how autonomous electronics can essentially process information without being connected to WiFi or staffers. The materials used to build the human-like robots must withstand extreme temperatures and radiation, while the entire invention manages and conserves battery power. Robots would not communicate to the outside, so scientists would depend on the humanoids safely returning to the surface with information, potentially 3D maps.
“The ability to walk is a huge asset when dealing with uneven terrains with no roads and no flat surfaces,” Agha said, noting the robots need eyes, ears, and a robot brain. “Integrating our robot brain, NeBula, on Spot has been pushing the boundaries of what was possible in exploring unknown Mars-like environments.”
Agha and his team of researchers have been working on project BRAILLE for three years and hope to complete their preliminary work next year.
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