NASA - NASA Develops Robust Artificial Intelligence for Planetary Rovers

NASA Develops Robust Artificial Intelligence for Planetary Rovers NASA is planning to add a strong dose of artificial intelligence (AI) to planetary rovers to make them much more self-reliant, capable of making basic decisions during a mission. Scientists at NASA Ames Research Center, in the heart of California's Silicon Valley, are developing very complex AI software that enables a higher level of robotic intelligence. In the past, very simple artificial intelligence systems on board rovers allowed them to make some simple decisions, but much smarter AI will enable these mobile robots to make many decisions now made by mission controllers. Image left: Future robotic rovers will have enough intelligence to navigate the martian landscape without detailed instructions from scientists on Earth. "Human beings make decisions in response to their environment. How do you encapsulate this behavior into a rover, or a robot, sitting on a planet millions of miles away? That's what we are working on," said Kanna Rajan, a computer scientist at NASA Ames.