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Mars Rovers At Smithsonian And Exploratorium Now
Illah Nourbakhsh writes "From the makers of the Palm Pilot Robot Kit comes our newest thing. If you live in SF or in DC you can go to the biggest science centers of them all, the Air & Space Museum or the Exploratorium and interact with miniature Mars rovers we've put in Mars yards there. The robots take panoramic images and track and test rocks, so it's no remote-control toy. All Linux on-board, using a prototype single-board arm-based robotics board (the Intel Stayton). The website 'gallery' has pictures of all of the rover's parts, including the Linux processor and the mechanicals. Gallery also has several videos. We've built 20 of these 'bots and they're in DC, San Francisco and Augusta, Georgia." If these were in toy stores ...
I've heard alot about these models, and they're supposed to be spactacular. Incredibly accurate. There's a great collection of interviews (audio) with project scientists available at http://www.planetary.org/audio/planetaryradio.html . Really worth a listen.
Yes, this is real. You can actually control your own rover through the web, and see live images. These aren't replica's, but made of lego's to drum up interest in the "Red Rover Goes to Mars" bit sponsored by The Planetary Society, a group over 20 years old that advocates space exploration and planetary science, founded (in part) by the great Carl Sagan.
Go to http://www.redrovergoestomars.org/Rrsites.php and control your own rover!
Unless you are in CA, I'd say you have a few days. quoting the article:
Our installation sites and approximate opening dates are:
The National Science Center (Augusta, GA) Jan. 24
The San Francisco Exploratorium (San Francisco, CA) Jan. 2
The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum (Washington) Jan. 3
The Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center (Dulles Airport) Jan. 24
The NASA/Ames Mars Center (Mountain View, CA) Dec. 29
The robots ARE at the Exploratorium and are working great thanks to the fine folks at CMU. The "personal" rovers will go on display this weekend coinciding with our webcasts. See http://www.exploratorium.edu/mars for details.