Mars Settlement Scenario

Abstract

Planetary surface exploration is a pursuit of interest for countries around the world. Robots play a critical role in exploration today, and will increasingly in the future when robots will be very intelligent and autonomic. The range of activities associated with a settlement on Mars presents a worthy canvas for illustrating the potential of robot memetics. This chapter covers example applications of ideas on robot memes and memetic algorithms suggesting the manner in which robots can acquire intelligence, exchange ideas, and cooperate with one another and with humans to accomplish goals. This is done against the backdrop of a future Mars settlement and across a range of scenarios that should motivate new scenarios and supporting technologies to develop intelligent, human-collaborative robots of the future.