One day, hopefully we’ll explore underground caves on Mars which may harbor preserved remains or even living microbial life but for now, NASA scientists are preparing by training the dog-like Spot robots in caves here on Earth.
NASA’s BRAILLE (Biologic and Resource Analog Investigations in Low Light Environments) collaborated with Boston Dynamics and JPL’s robotic team CoSTAR to explore the Valentine Cave in the Lava Beds National Monument in California.
Initial demonstrations with a team of the quadruped Spot robots show the advantages of legged robots in exploring the uneven cavern terrains autonomously, with each robot being able to carry special instruments to detect, collect, and analyze scientifically interesting samples.
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