Researchers from ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich and partner institutions tested an ANYmal robot carrying a Raman spectrometer and microscopic imager in Mars and Moon analogue environments. Once an operator selected targets and uploaded a measurement sequence, the robot navigated between them, positioned its arm and collected mineralogical observations without further commands.
Four semi-autonomous Mars-analogue runs averaged 16.5 minutes and identified at least two of three targets, with all three identified in one run. A human-guided lunar-analogue run identified all three in 41 minutes and returned more useful data. The experiments used different sample sets, so the results demonstrate a speed-versus-measurement-quality trade-off rather than a controlled threefold speed advantage.
