Robots are going to take on moon and planet exploration tasks for a long time. Plenty of engineers are working to perfect them. Olaf is a robot that is helping NASA test different strategies to to land on Europa, the icy moon of Jupiter.
Europa is a fascinating moon but poses its own unique challenges to robots as it has no atmosphere. Researchers have been using Olaf to test landing gear on different terrains. For instance, with sticky and bowl shaped feet, bouncing is prevented and force is better distributed on landing.
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