Scientists at the German Research Center of Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) are working on a robotic ape that might explore the moon one day.
While DFKI is developing a number of different robots to explore the moon, the most curious of them, by far, is their iStruct space robot. Built to resemble an ape the iStruct is being created to study the way robots move and react to varied terrain.
With its articulated spinal column, and sensor filled foot and ankles, iStruct is built to react to the slightest change in its surroundings. As its technology advances it’s likely that the iStruct will challenge other robots for a place on the next generation of lunar exploration missions.
I for one can’t wait to see robotic apes bounding across the lunar surface!
Watch A Few Videos of the iStruct in Action:
Images and Video Courtesy of DFKI Robotics