A new online tool called AI4Mars, hosted on Zooniverse, allows anyone to label parts of the terrain in the landscape surrounding Curiosity, which has been roving on Mars since 2012. The tool is a form of ‘machine learning’ that allows rover planners assisting with Curiosity’s movements to train the rover’s intelligence for safe route planning.
Curiosity navigates alien terrain as it investigates the Red Planet
©NASA/JPL-Caltech
Picking an appropriate pathway is a pressing problem for Martian rovers. Curiosity’s wheels wore down in the early years of its mission from driving over sharp rocks, while another Mars rover called Spirit got permanently stuck in a sand trap in 2010.