NASA/JPL Caltech researchers are working with a team at Boston Dynamics to develop “Mars Dogs,” or autonomous robotic dogs that will be able to navigate the Red Planet’s rough terrain and its many underground caves. Similar to the Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, and Perseverance rovers, they’ll come equipped with a multitude of sensors capable of detecting obstacles as well as finding the most efficient paths or creating virtual maps in real-time of underground areas.
This version of Spot will be called “Au-Spot” and be equipped with networked sensors as well as special software designed to help it roam the Martian surface and underground tunnels. It’s currently being tested here on obstacle courses right here on Earth, including tunnels, up inclines, and Mars-like areas to help it acclimate.
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CoSTAR develops a holistic autonomy, perception, and communication framework called NeBula (Networked Belief-aware Perceptual Autonomy), enabling various rolling and flying robots to autonomously explore unknown environments. In the second year of the project, we aimed at extending our autonomy framework to explore underground structures including multiple levels and mobility stressing-features. We were looking into expanding the locomotion capabilities of our robotic team to support this level of autonomy. Spot was the perfect choice for us due to its size, agility, and capabilities,” said the team.
