Could This Small Little Robot Help Find Life Under the Surface of Mars?

Amaze Lab

When exploring Mars remotely, how is something like this, supposed to explore something like this? The short answer is it can’t, which is why robotic engineers are now working on a crawling, spider-like device which could someday explore the nooks and crannies of other worlds.

Transcript

00:00When exploring Mars remotely, how is something like this supposed to investigate something like

00:08this? The short answer is it can't, which is why robotic engineers are now working on a crawling

00:14spider-like device, which could someday explore the nooks and crannies of other worlds. They're

00:19calling it ReachBot, and it could someday revolutionize space exploration. Here's

00:23Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford, Mark Kutkoski, to explain.

00:27The thought was, well, what if you could have a robot, a small robot about the size of a suitcase,

00:32let's say, that has extremely long limbs, that it can reach out and grab the sides of the cave

00:38with grippers and then manipulate itself by alternately attaching, retracting, and extending

00:44those limbs. Enter ReachBot, an automaton its developers say was inspired by Daddy Longlegs.

00:50They say it was built with a small chassis and very long limbs, which they call booms,

00:54which allow it to get into small spaces and grab onto just about anything. So why do we need to

00:59get into these small spaces on other planets in the first place?

01:02So the end goal, at least for planetary exploration, is to go places where no robot has been able to go

01:07before. How do you get yourself down into a lava tube or a cave? These are, by the way,

01:12very interesting spaces to explore. They're relatively sheltered. If there are any signs

01:19of previous life, that's a good place to look for them.

01:22Kutkoski adds that these robots could also be used

01:25to find new spots for humans to set up a base off-world.

Category

Transcript

Recommended