Self-sustaining robotic systems

Abstract

To support NASA’s new missions for sustainable and affordable space exploration, the Robosphere 2002 and 2004 workshops were held at NASA Ames Research Center. The aim of the workshops was to explore the notion of self-sustaining robotic systems as a means of achieving increased scientific returns, decreased exploration costs and reduced chances of mission failure. The fundamental propositions of both workshops were that (a) self-sustaining systems need to provide not only for agent coordination, but also for the exchange of matter (parts) and energy, that (b) increased complexity need not come at the cost of decreased stability or survivability, and that (c) InSitu Resource Utilization will need to play a key role. Nature provides examples of self-sustaining systems -ecologieswhere interactions among components (organisms) involve information, matter, and energy exchanges; and where complexity confers stability. Natural ecologies are thus a source of inspiration for the types of systems we need to build. On the other hand, many valid approaches to self-sustaining human/robotic systems are also inspired by non-biological principles. The 2004 workshop extended those interests to also encompass explicit consideration of human presence and coordination with self-sustaining robotic systems. The papers published in this special issue were based