NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Limbed Excursion Mechanical Utility Robot (LEMUR) was initially designed to make repairs on the International Space Station, but after that program ended, it has its sights set much higher. Engineers are testing the robot and using the gathered data with LEMUR to further explore robots that will eventually land on Mars and beyond.
During a test at Death Valley, California, LEMUR’s AI selected its own route, and used hundreds of tiny fishhooks embedded in each of its 16 fingers to scale a vertical surface. The robot used its science instruments to scan the rock for ancient fossils, in which it discovered fossilized balls of algae, which once inhabited the warm sea in that area around 500-million years ago.
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