![]() ![]() Using stereo cameras and lidar, the robot can create a 3D map of its surroundings to understand its environment before navigating through it. ![]() Due to time lags in communication between us and Enceladus, EELS needs to calculate risk, move around and collect data without the help of a team on Earth. JPL engineers hope the robot can eventually solve problems without human input. They tested the robot in a variety of environments-from JPL’s own simulated Martian landscape, called the Mars Yard, to the snowy mountains of Southern California. Since the robot’s first prototype was produced in 2019, engineers have trialed and revised their design continuously. “When you’re going places where you don’t know what you’ll find, you want to send a versatile, risk-aware robot that’s prepared for uncertainty-and can make decisions on its own.” Though some robots are better at one particular type of terrain or other, the idea for EELS is the ability to do it all,” Matthew Robinson, EELS project manager, says in the statement. “It has the capability to go to locations where other robots can’t go. While the robot is still undergoing testing and development, engineers hope it will soon independently slither through a variety of planetary and lunar terrains-from undulating sand and ice to steep cliffs, gaping craters, underground lava tubes and even narrow spaces within glaciers. Developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the 220-pound and 13-foot-long machine is called EELS, or the Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor, and it’s designed to be “self-propelled” and “autonomous,” according to a statement from the agency. NASA is testing a snake-like robot in hopes that it could one day look for life on Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |