Dancing robot could soon explore Mars

06:00 AEDT Fri Feb 3 2012

By ninemsn staff

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Scientists could soon explore Mars and the moon with a 12-eyed dancing robot controlled by Xbox Kinect or Nintendo Wii.

NASA's All-Terrain-Hex-Limbed-Extra-Terrestrial-Explorer, better known as "Athlete", was built to explore Mars, the moon and asteroids and send images of the foreign scapes back to earth.

Athlete's full capacity has not been tested but NASA has plans to use gaming systems to control its movements.

The robot could then be controlled simply by using arm and hand gestures in front of a 270-degree wraparound screen.

Shovels, drill bits and gripping hands can be attached to the bot and its legs are mounted on wheels to allow the "feet" to jump over rocks and climb on sand.

The 2267kg robot, which does a dance routine in NASA's demonstration video, can carry up to 14, 514kg.

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