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ESA team builds self-piloting rover in six months, tests it in Chilean desert
Chile's Atacama Desert might not be true Martian territory, but it's close enough for the European Space Agency's new rover. Built by a crack engineering team in just six months, the Seeker rover was created to autonomously roam 6 km of Mars-like terrain and trace its way back. The Seeker just wrapped up a two week gauntlet in the Chilean wasteland using ol' fashioned dead reckoning and stereoscopic vision to find its way, compiling a 3D map of its surroundings as it puttered along. The full-scale rover wandered the arid terrain on its lonesome until temperatures forced it to stop after trekking 5.1 km. The red planet won't welcome an ESA rover until 2018, but those jonesin' for news from Martian soil should keep their eyes peeled for Curiosity's August touchdown.
NASA unveils rock-climbing Axel Rover, slashes dirt without getting dizzy
NASA's latest toy is an oversized robotic yo-yo dubbed the Axel Rover. Developed in collaboration with Caltech, it's designed to raise and lower itself over any environment with a motorized lever that can be used for tethering as well as scooping up materials for scientific research and maneuvering its two cameras. Two more motors run each of its wheels, which should ensure it's more than equipped to traverse anything from the Garden of Eden to otherworldly terrain right next door to Hell. Check out the rover doing its thing in the video after the break [Via Network World]
