MOUNT HOOD, Ore. — At 7,000 feet, along the Magic Mile chair lift, there’s still plenty of snow for almost late June, but there’s a group interested in not just the freshly carved slopes but something much higher up — and a four-legged robot that’s currently exploring the surface of Mount Hood may be the key.
"This research is motivated by NASA's Moon to Mars objective, and its future works putting humans and robot on the moon — and eventually, Mars — together,” said Cristina Wilson with Oregon State University, who works in the collaborative robotics and intelligence systems institute.
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Wilson has been working on this project for the last two years with other universities from around the country, including University of Southern California and Georgia Tech, and NASA, who’s backing the project.
As you guessed it, the research name comes with a very big acronym.
“The LASSIE Project stands for 'Legged Autonomous Surface Science in Analog Environments,' and the legs from that come from the Spirit robot,” said Wilson.
Spirit, the four-legged robot in question, resembles a dog, and it's helping this team get back to the moon. The reason researchers chose Mount Hood for this project is the terrain, the rocky conditions, as well as the snow and ice.
Kenton Fisher, a space scientist with NASA, said that the data they receive from Spirit tells them about the composition of the surface that the robot is walking over.
“At NASA, we’re often looking at ways to adapt the engineering developments that are going on things, like rovers or robotic dogs, and use them for science applications,” said Fisher.
He’s hoping the information they get down on Earth will lead to more discoveries in outer space, even though he knows there will be a few missteps before that can happen.