The Mars Robot Making Decisions on Its Own

The software, known as Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science, or AEGIS, selected inspection-worthy rocks and soil targets with 93 percent accuracy between last May and this April, according to a study from its developers published this week in the journal Science Robotics. AEGIS works with an instrument on Curiosity called the ChemCam, short for chemistry and camera. The ChemCam, a one-eyed, brick-shaped device that sits atop the rover's spindly robotic neck, emits laser beams at rocks and soil as far as 23 feet away. It then uses the light coming from the impacts to analyze and detect the geochemical composition of the vaporized material. Before AEGIS, when Curiosity arrived at a new spot, ready to explore, it fired the laser at whatever rock or soil fell into the field of view of its navigation cameras.