The unmanned future
NASA's new challenge is using computers to go where humans can't. Ground-based controllers still give the orders, but it's the machines' MAPGEN software that decides how best to carry them out. NASA says that MAPGEN is the first artificial intelligence software to have command of a rover on another planet.
SMART BOT: Networked teams of these little guys could one day be exploring where we can't go
MISUS will have a carefully created initial plan to work through, but changes in conditions and the results of onboard experiments will enable it to constantly review this plan and make modifications without asking Earth for help – which is vital given the long delays inherent in communicating across such distances.
Soon after the first brave men and women were shot into orbit, space flight became impossible without computers. However, humans require massive support to slip their earthly bonds for even just a few hours.
Computers have no such restriction. With developments in AI gathering speed, perhaps rather than humans colonising the solar system in the years to come, it'll be robots that don't mind taking one-way trip to far-flung planets. At least, we hope they won't…
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First published in PC Plus Issue 290
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