Spring 2026 45 the research. Most recently, he has designed experiments to test the leg in the lab. He joined the team on a trip to Mount Hood in 2023 and spent much of the time shadowing graduate students and assisting with the operation of field equipment. This past summer in New Mexico, he collected data, ran experiments and had a fellow undergraduate student shadowing him. “One of the best decisions I made in college was joining the lab,” Allen said. “It really gave me a leg up in a lot of ways, particularly getting early hands-on experience with engineering and being exposed to multi-disciplinarywork.All that has made me a lot better as an engineer.” L I V I NG THE SC I ENCE White Sands sits about 100 miles north of the Mexican border in the Tularosa Basin, with mountain peaks between 8,000 and 10,000 feet to the east and west. It’s home to the Trinity Site, where the world’s first atomic bomb was detonated in 1945. It’s also host to the world’s largest gypsum dunefield. Covering about 275 square miles of desert, the gypsum in these sands originated roughly 280 million years ago when the Permian Sea covered the area and the mineral settled on the sea floor. Later, when the ancient sea dried up, the gypsum crystals broke down into sand and blew into dunes.The shaping and reshaping of the dunefield continues today in an endless cycle of erosion and renewal, mirroring processes suspected to have occurred on Mars. During the August trip to White Sands, early morning field work was followed by afternoon debriefings and late-night equipment repair sessions. Workdays stretched up to 16 hours. “It’s taxing, physically and psychologically,” Wilson said. “You’re always on. You’re sharing a room, usually with a member of the research team. It’s like you’re actually living your science. For that week, the research is home.” During the week, important advances were made. For the first time, the robot walked in different ways — trading off between prioritizing gait efficiency and sensing precision. It also began making some decisions on its own without human input.The data gathered will be used by the team to refine models that will allow LASSIE to better navigate the varied terrain and help scientists. Ewing, the NASA scientist, said the technology for LASSIE has progressed enough to start thinking about how to get it flight ready. “We want to push this forward from an academic project and exploration to ‘Let’s go do this,’” he said. Still, there’s work ahead and years until LASSIE will reach the Moon or Mars. Wilson feels fortunate to work on the edge of a developing field. “One of my postdoc advisors had a nameplate that said, ‘Science Fiction Writer,’” she said. “It’s true. In robotics, we write proposals for research funding, but we’re also writing science fiction. Everyone does to some extent, but with robots, it feels even more novel-esque, maybe? That’s an incredible intellectual space to live in.” ↓ Field tests like these help prepare LASSIE for future Mars missions and could one day guide robots navigating hazardous terrain on Earth, from wildfire zones to remote construction sites.
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