The Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, who recently completed their fifth year on Mars, showed us how invaluable automated helpers can be. While NASA is planning its next super-rover for Mars, researchers across the globe are busily testing novel and interesting designs to overcome the obstacles a robot might find on other planets. Several prototypes within the last year have been especially creative:
Giant Wheels: 
Announced by NASA and Caltech, the yo-yo-like Axel looks like a long blue tube with two large, thin wheels at either end. Its wheels have small paddles around the rims, helping hoist Axel over steep and rocky terrain. It also has a tether that lets it lower itself down from a balloon onto land, for example, or rappel from a cliff into a deep crater to retrieve samples. A relatively simple but mobility versatile robot, its primary objective is to gather samples from hard-to-reach places with its scoop. (Check out a video of it in action here).
Spiderbot: Researchers drew inspiration from spiders to make the long-legged Abigaille-I, whose strong dry adhesion pads and rotating ankles could eventually allow it to run over rough terrain and possibly even upside down. I saw a video for Abigaille debut at the BioRob Conference in November (watch it here). The Simon Fraser University group plans to test Abigaille on a simulation Mars surface next year.
Bouncy Ball: A video of Jollbot, a flexible, springing sphere made by a group at the University of Bath, spread like wildfire across the Internet back in December. The deceptively toy-like robot rolls around until it encounters an obstacle. Then, it squashes itself down and springs forward like a grasshopper to clear its barrier.
Smart Dust: Last spring, researchers at University of Glasgow proposed using the natural power of wind to move smart dust, a swarm of tiny wireless components that could self-organize and gather information. By changing its outer polymer shape, each mote can make itself more or less wind resistant, controlling its motion. The research is in early modeling stages, but the group has shown how they can control a simulated dust swarm’s direction in high winds by changing the shapes of the particles. A partner group has begun to develop the wireless specks. The team envisions space probes sending down a smart swarm into a planet’s atmosphere for extraterrestrial exploration.
Snakebots: Researchers are developing snakelike robots for everything from surgery to assisting construction workers or search-and-rescue teams. Long and flexible robots are versatile enough to shimmy up or along narrow obstacles and wind through tight spaces. When equipped with cameras or other sensors, they could see in areas where people can’t. Snake-inspired robots like Virginia Tech’s HyDRAS or Carnegie Mellon University’s modular snakes potentially help astronauts in space, winding along poles to check for damage or make repairs. They could also maneuver through rocky or unstable land.
