Robots find life in the harshest place

Scientists who have been working on finding life on Mars, are studying the driest place on earth - Chile's Atacama desert.

In June 2013, Carnegie Mellon University's Zoë robot will travel through the desert as part of a space experiment to test the technology and technology for NASA's next trip to find Search for life on Mars at the end of this decade.

The areas of the Atacama Desert are one of the most lacking conditions for life on earth, and even bacteria are difficult to survive. Every decade, rainfall is measured only in millimeters. In many respects, this 10 million-year-old desert is a similar example to learn and study life on Mars.

Zoë is a self-propelled robot that uses solar energy and was the first device to map bacterial survival in the Atacama Desert in 2005. It is part of a program that continues to drive autonomous robots. Next to the red planet in 2020.

Robot Zoë looks like a box, 2m long, weighs only 180kg, has 4 wheels equipped with a 3m ² solar panel made from gallium solar cells asenide highly effective when charging the robot. Zoë is equipped with panoramic cameras, microscopes, spectrophotometers, able to capture complex objects, divert on the horizon. It can allocate energy resources based on instructions and priority tasks ordered by the control center in Pittsburgh.

Because this study aims to test technologies for exploring Mars, Zoë is not equipped with a compass or a global positioning device to redirect (both devices do not work on the planet. red). Instead, Zoë relies on orbital terrain models and stereo vision to avoid objects. According to the team, this method is very good, Zoë can operate on its own and travel 1km away in a command cycle. Zoë's mission is to study Atacama's geology and look for signs of life to map the biological geology of the desert. The underside of the robot has a fluorescent screen to search for life and a dragging plow to remove holes in the soil. When operating again in June in Chile, Zoë will be equipped with a 1-meter drill of Honeybee Robotics to study life on the ground.

Gizmag magazine quoted David Wettergreen, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Robot Research Institute, a key member of the project 'Life at Atacama', saying: 'Direct evidence of life exists outside. Current human approaches and potentially underground. The opportunities will grow with more depth but we are the first to develop the ability to find 1m depth with an autonomous robot. '

Zoë is currently conducting technical inspections in Chile and will begin two weeks of desert exploration from June 17 in about 30-40km at Atacama. According to the plan, Zoë will carry out two drilling sessions a day, taking soil samples on the robot's floor for analysis tools. During the day Zoë will follow the instructions, at night will switch to rest mode and automatically continue to work at dawn.