ESA's six-wheeled Mars bot prototypes ready to kick some martian ass

ESA is showing off its new "ExoMars" bots, Bruno and Bradley, who are being prepped for a 2015 mission to the red planet. The six-wheeled bots are being designed to carry a significant scientific payload, oriented around the search for life, but won't slouch in the maneuverability department, with six independently rotating wheels. In addition to independent movement, the wheels can also be locked into "wheel walking mode," where treacherous terrain can be traversed by crawling instead of rolling over it. On the AI front, Bruno and Bradley have significantly better AI than their progenitors, being able to plot their own courses and therefore cover more ground. The mission will involve traversing the planet and drilling six feet into the ground for soil samples, which the rover will be able to examine in its on-board laboratory. The only problem now is funding: ExoMars is looking to cost about double the 650 million Euros initially approved for the project in 2005, and there's no guarantee (yet) that the extra cash will be there when they need it.

[BirdofPrey @ Aug 15th 2008 11:18AM]

Wheel walking mode?
If the terrain is that tought then maybe they should add 2 more wheels or make an actual walker

[engadgetier @ Aug 15th 2008 4:15PM]

I think an imperial walker will do ;)

[Boarderwoot @ Aug 15th 2008 11:20AM]

I wonder how much they've spent so far...it's a shame the ESA isn't part of the American government, claim its to provide further homeland security and they'd have no problem going over to China and asking them for the money they need to complete the mission.

[andy @ Aug 15th 2008 4:13PM]

And most of us could probably build this in our garages/bedrooms for 1/100,000 the cost... or even free.. lets go through our junk drawers and see what we have laying around

[Richard Lai @ Aug 15th 2008 11:23AM]

Martians have ass?

[LondonConsultant @ Aug 15th 2008 12:19PM]

Arse!

[Lowest Ranked @ Aug 15th 2008 12:41PM]

You spelled ass wrong.

[Mustaine @ Aug 15th 2008 5:47PM]

Martians may have ass but I sure wouldn't mind getting some of that Arcturian poon-tang!

[Mustaine @ Aug 15th 2008 11:38AM]

What's with all the exposed hydraulic lines? Would be a shame to go all that way just to catch one of those on a rock and PSSSHHHHH!

[foxdude0486 @ Aug 15th 2008 2:03PM]

That's what the other 650mil Euros is going to be for!

[Brad @ Aug 15th 2008 12:04PM]

As an aerospace engineer named Bradley aspiring to be an astronaut (yeah, not kidding), I sincerely hope this isn't the closest I get to walking on Mars.

[a ham sandwich @ Aug 15th 2008 12:15PM]

habout we get some friggen people up there! im available.

[bjsguess @ Aug 15th 2008 12:20PM]

Seems a little expensive. I know that's a sophisticated robot and all but you would think they could build it for under a $100m.

[Lowest Ranked @ Aug 15th 2008 12:42PM]

$100 Million is roughly 20 Euros, so no.

[CraigJ @ Aug 15th 2008 12:51PM]

Not really. It's more than just the bots...

[Fraer9 @ Aug 15th 2008 1:18PM]

Or ready to be kicked by a martian.

[Chase @ Aug 15th 2008 3:16PM]

and I, for one, welcome our martian terrain bot overlords.

[Jason @ Aug 15th 2008 3:46PM]

Seriously, when Marvin sees this, we're totally getting lased.