Due to their resilience to motion blur and high robustness in low-light and high dynamic range conditions, event cameras are poised to become enabling sensors for vision-based exploration on future Mars helicopter missions. However, existing event-based visual-inertial odometry (VIO) algorithms either suffer from high tracking errors or are brittle, since they cannot cope with significant depth uncertainties caused by an unforeseen loss of tracking or other effects. In this work, we introduce EKLT-VIO, which addresses both limitations by combining a state-of-the-art event-based frontend with a filter-based backend. This makes it both accurate and robust to uncertainties, outperforming event- and frame-based VIO algorithms on challenging benchmarks by 32%. In addition, we demonstrate accurate performance in hover-like conditions (outperforming existing event-based methods) as well as high robustness in newly collected Mars-like and high-dynamic-range sequences, where existing frame-based methods fail. In doing so, we show that event-based VIO is the way forward for vision-based exploration on Mars.

NASA's Ingenuity made history as the first powered vehicle to fly on another planet and with this great success, the space agency is already looking to design its predecessor that aims to be bigger and better. The roboticists at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory have been sketching out what they call the Mars Science Helicopter (MSH), a 66-pound hexacopter capable of collecting samples from the Red Planet. Ingenuity, on the other hand, weighs just four pounds and features only two rotors. Unlike Ingenuity, which is a scout for the Perseverance rover, MSH would carry and deploy scientific payloads and be given its own formation on Mars to explore for ancient signs of life. On Earth, minerals found at sites similar to Mawrth Vallis preserve organic material – and that is what NASA hopes to find on Mars.

A small robotic helicopter named Ingenuity made space exploration history on Monday when it lifted off the surface of Mars and hovered in the wispy air of the red planet. It was the first machine from Earth ever to fly like an airplane or a helicopter on another world. The achievement extends NASA's long, exceptional record of firsts on Mars. "We together flew at Mars," MiMi Aung, the project manager for Ingenuity, said to her team during the celebration. "And we together now have this Wright brothers moment."

Very early this morning, NASA flew a small drone helicopter that its latest rover had toted to Mars, marking humankind's first controlled and powered flight on another planet. Ingenuity stuck the landing--and space engineers are stoked. Ingenuity ascended about one meter per second, until it rose three meters--about 10 feet above Mars. The helicopter hung as evenly as its state-of-the-art electronics could allow, and then landed where it had been 40 seconds before. Then, Ingenuity pinged its Earth-bound engineers a message they've sought for almost a decade: Mission accomplished.

Apple is working on a new product that combines its HomePod smart speaker with the Apple TV. The upcoming device would include a camera for video conferencing and control over smart home equipment, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with Apple's internal developments. It would also include the same functionality we've seen from Apple's existing products: streaming video and audio, gaming capabilities, and Siri support. Apple is also said to be working on another product that would combine an iPad with a HomePod speaker. Similar products have been released by Amazon and Google recently, such as the Echo Show 10 or the Google Nest Hub.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook has addressed rumours that his company is building a car in a new interview. While he declined to confirm any real details of what Apple is planning to release – if anything – he did give an indication of what the company might look to do if it does release a car, as rumoured. He noted that "an autonomous car is a robot" and that Apple looks to integrate hardware and software in all of its products. But the company "investigate so many things internally", many of which never actually "see the light of day", he told Kara Swisher in an interview for her New York Times podcast, Sway. In the same intervew, Mr Cook also discussed his commitment to free speech, his hope that controversial social media app Parler could return to the App Store, and Apple's ongoing fight with competitors including Facebook.

The helicopter sent to Mars by NASA to explore the Red Planet from the sky has'phoned home' and is working great, according to the space agency. Named Ingenuity, it rode to Mars strapped to the belly of the car-sized Perseverance rover that will trundle along the Jezero crater in search of ancient alien life. NASA mission control in Southern California received the first status report from Ingenuity late on Friday via the space-based Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Ingenuity will remain attached the belly of Perseverance for between 30 and 60 days before it detaches and makes its maiden flight - assuming it survives the brutal average -90C overnight temperatures found on the Red Planet. NASA shared an exciting image shot by the sky crane that shows Perseverance, nicknamed Perky, slung beneath and attached to mechanical bridals – moments before making landfall. The downlink confirmed that the helicopter, and an electrical box on the rover that routes and stores communications with Earth, were both performing as expected.

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your Automaton bloggers. We'll also be posting a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months; here's what we have so far (send us your events!): Let us know if you have suggestions for next week, and enjoy today's videos. NASA is sending a small helicopter to Mars in 2020, and it managed to get airborne in a simulated Martian atmosphere without crashing or exploding. I really want to get excited about this thing, and from a technology perspective, I am.

What does a company do when its trailblazing and diverse innovations for nearly half a century have redefined how the world drives and flies? When its many technological "firsts" include the first practical electric car, flying the Nano Hummingbird drone, record-setting, solar-powered aircraft flights in near space, and reshaping the battlefield with portable, hand-held, tactical drones and loitering munitions? It takes on another world. AeroVironment, Inc. has revealed its critical role in collaborating with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA/JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. to build the drone helicopter recently selected by NASA/JPL's Mars Exploration Program, and displayed a model of the Mars Helicopter, which is planned to fly on Mars in less than three years. "AeroVironment's deep, rich and diverse history of innovation combined with our experience with near-space aircraft like Pathfinder and Helios make us uniquely suited to collaborate with NASA and JPL on this historic, interplanetary venture," said AeroVironment President and Chief Executive Officer Wahid Nawabi.

Nasa intends to study Mars from the sky, with the help of a miniature helicopter. The world first would see the US space agency launch the drone-like craft to Mars in 2020, reaching the red planet in early 2021. Known simply as The Mars Helicopter, the device weighs less than four pounds (1.8 kilograms), and its main body section, or fuselage, is about the size of a softball. It will serve as a proof of concept, demonstrating that airborne drones work well on Mars, and could pave the way for a fleet of the machines. Because of the thin atmosphere on the Red Planet, the helicopter's blades will spin at almost 3,000 rpm, approximately ten times faster than on Earth.