CalTech: Intelligent space robots will explore universe by 2020

Computerworld - Before the year 2020, scientists are expected to launch intelligent space robots that will venture out to explore the universe for us.

Researchers are working on creating autonomous spacecrafts that will be able to analyze data about points of interest as it passes and then make quick decisions about what needs to be investigated, according to Wolfgang Fink, a physicist and senior researcher at the California Institute of Technology.

"Robotic exploration probably will always be the trailblazer for human exploration of far space," said Fink. "We haven't yet landed a human being on Mars, but we have a robot there now. In that sense, it's much easier to send a robotic explorer. When you can take the human out of the loop, that is becoming very exciting."

NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are using a robotic arm onboard the Mars Lander that's been working on the Martian north pole for more than a month and a half now. Programmers send up daily instruction code to the arm, telling it to dig trenches in the soil or scoop up ice scrapings and deposit them in one of the analysis tools onboard.

Fink said that's a great start, but he's looking forward to the day when the robots can make at least some of the decisions for themselves.

"The arms are the tools, but it's about the intent to move the arms," he added. "That's what we're after. To [have the robot] know that something there is interesting and that's where it needs to go and then to go get a sample from it. That's what we've after. You want to get rid of the joystick, in other words. You want the system to take control of itself and then basically use its own tools to explore."

The physicist said he envisions a time when humans send out intelligent probes to explore the far reaches of the universe and send information back to Earth -- without having to send people on excruciatingly long and dangerous space missions.

"In the old Star Wars movies, especially in The Empire Strikes Back, the empire was sending out probes or floating robots," said Fink. "Those were ideal robotic explorers because they floated over planets and had sensors and communication capabilities. Once you venture out to other planets, you need something that can operate on its own. You can't monitor and supervise every single step. You want to deploy something that, on its own, can start a reconnaissance of the area and report back."

What will make the spacecraft or space robot intelligent is its ability to recognize something of interest -- say, a crater on a planet or an asteroid -- and then decide to go investigate. And giving a machine that complex ability will be no easy task, but CalTech scientists already have begun working on it.