42 OregonStater.org Each strike sounds like the footfall of soldiers marching in formation and leaves a golf ball-sized print behind in the sand. A four-legged, dog-like robot — aptly named LASSIE — is walking on the wind-sculpted dunes of White Sands National Park in New Mexico. Its every step is a data point that a team of robotics researchers, including scientists from Oregon State University, will use to put a bold plan into action: sending LASSIE to Mars. The varying textures of the park’s white, gypsum sand — hard, crusty, squishy, loose — make it an ideal place to prepare for the Martian surface. Data gleaned from the motors in the robot’s legs will inform future decisions, such as where to potentially land LASSIE on Mars and what areas of the planet to explore. The research is part of the next evolution of NASA’s off-Earth exploration. Manned rovers on the moon and unmanned rovers on Mars have driven decades of discovery. But rovers have limits. Their wheels get stuck in loose terrain, they can struggle to navigate uneven ground and they typically operate with pre-programmed agendas, which limits their ability to adapt as new opportunities arise. Enter quadrupeds. These robots move like animals. Their ability to “feel” the terrain with their feet allows them to adjust their stride in real time, opening new possibilities for science. That autonomy, driven by the latest advances in artificial intelligence and robotics, is critical for future Mars missions. A quadruped could work independently alongside astronauts and rovers, while coordinating with scientists on Earth, multiplying the amount of research that gets done. In other words, the robot would be more than just a tool; it would be a collaborator. That’s the framework Cristina Wilson, assistant professor and senior researcher in the College of Engineering at OSU, is working with a team of researchers to optimize. “When you put humans on the surface of Mars, you have an entirely different environment,” Wilson said. “There’s all of these interesting ways that we can reimagine human-robot teaming for science.” The research builds on decades of innovation that have already led to rovers and a drone-like helicopter exploring Mars. Ryan Ewing, science mobility lead for NASA’s Artemis Internal Science Team and a collaborator on the LASSIE project, believes the dog robot is an important component of future NASA work. “I envision a legged robot as a companion or a scout for humans,” he said. “Legged robots may enable exploring different terrains — more challenging terrains — than a rover can.” E ↑ Work began at sunrise in White Sands to avoid the intense heat.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==