Do Robots Help Humans in Space We Asked a NASA Technologist

NASA’s Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Explorers (CADRE) project is developing a network of shoe-box-sized mobile robots that could enable future autonomous robotic exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The CADRE robots are the latest version of NASA’s A-PUFFER technology. Each robot contains an onboard computer with a wireless radio for communication and a stereo camera – which has multiple lenses and image sensors – for sensing the environment in front of it and capturing 3D imagery. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California is developing the robotic scouts, designing them to explore as a group and collect data in hard-to-reach places such as craters and caves on the Moon.

“CADRE robots could complement NASA’s larger planetary robots and rovers,” said Sonny Mitchell, a program element manager for NASA’s Game Changing Development Program, which funds the project. “Multiple small, autonomous robots could cover more ground, potentially helping us map unexplored regions on the Moon.”