AI inspired by insects tested in Mars rover trials

Opteran believes nature offers a more efficient, robust solution for autonomy in space robotics which will enable new mission capabilities for future Mars missions and other space exploration projects. Based on over a decade of research into animal and insect vision, navigation and decision-making, Opteran is conducting tests with Airbus at its Mars Yard to enable rovers to understand depth perception in the toughest off-world environments.

Today’s off-world robots are cumbersome – taking minutes to compute a map of their surroundings from multiple cameras before every movement. Opteran’s visual and perception systems offer Mars rovers’ the ability to understand their surroundings in milliseconds, in challenging conditions, without adding to the robot’s critical power consumption. Opteran has reverse engineered natural brain algorithms into a software mind that enables autonomous machines to efficiently move through the most challenging environments without the need for extensive data or training. Successful application of this technology to real-world space exploration will significantly extend navigation capabilities in extreme off-world terrain. Ultimately, providing rovers with continuous navigation while being able to drive further and faster.

“We are delighted to be working with ESA and Airbus to demonstrate how Opteran’s neuromorphic software addresses key blockers in space autonomy,” said David Rajan, CEO and Co-Founder, Opteran. “Our long-term vision is to provide natural autonomy with the Opteran Mind to every machine, on Earth and beyond, and this project will show how we can enable high speed, continuous safe driving, optimised for the rigors of planetary rover navigation. Today, no such flight-ready systems exist, so there is a major opportunity for Opteran to step up and resolve a challenge facing all the major players in space robotics.”

This project is funded by ESA’s General Support Technology Programme (GSTP) through the UK Space Agency, which takes leading-edge technologies that are not ready to be sent into space and then develops them to be used in future missions. The near-term focus for the BNEE project is on depth estimation for obstacle detection, and the mid-term focus on infrastructure-free visual navigation. Once the results of the initial testing have been presented to ESA the goal would be to move to the next stage of grant funding which would start to focus on deployment and commercialisation.