Lunatix, a team of space engineers, developed jumping nano-rover that would be used in augmented reality scenarios on the Moon. The main idea is to explore the Moon with the help of the huge game industry.
After raising initial enthusiasm among Earth's 1.8 billion gamers with controlling a virtual Nanobot on a simulated lunar surface, there will be the possibility to control real Nanobots on the Moon, in Pokemon Go! (or Avatar!)-style augmented reality scenarios.
Image: Lunatix
The Nanobots are designed to jump up to 3 m high and 10 m in distance in the low lunar gravity (1/6 of Earth's).
Gamer will control the Nanobots and see the Moon with the robot's eyes.
Says Jon Reijneveld, system engineer at Airbus Defence and Space:
Through the Nanobots, humans will be experiencing the Moon in near-real time, with a two-way delay of around three seconds. They could be seen as the first inhabitants of the Moon Village.
Science would be another business line, with the Nanobots able to probe sites of scientific interest such as lunar lava tubes. The search for them instead of Pokemons might be extremely useful.
If the nanobots are sent to the moon, they'd be based in a rover that would shelter and charge them over the two week-long lunar night.
The first remote controlled rover on the Moon was Soviet Lunokhod-1 landed in 1970.
Konstantin Davidovski, one of the first drivers:
And his gameplay:
Image: Wikipedia
The Lunatix team expects development and deployment of the nanobots would take about four years. The finalized game would use real images and video from the moon. Some "exclusive users" would be able to buy an option that would allow them to control their own nanobot.
Sources:
[1] Moon Village
This would actually be amazing . It is incredible what the future holds for us.
Thank you for reading
Really? I want to drive one of those. This is better than the "your selfie in space" project from Planetary Resources. Great news for sure.
what arm race couldn't achieve- gaming can do!
Very interesting post. Thank you for information information about this technology
Thank you for reading
Interesting idea and one I will certainly try out if it comes to fruition, but I think it won't be succesful for the masses for two reasons:
The delay
There will be at least a 2.6 second delay when trying to see what is happening from the moment you will see it happen. This is some considerable lag and most people will find it irritating.
There really isn't much to see on the moon for the average person
Everyone will try it, see the moon surface, look around for 20 minutes and get bored. Apart from the very small nerdy minority, most people just won't find it entertaining.
I'm not saying I don't like the idea and that I won't partake in it, I just feel like it won't be as massively successful as people might think.
Great post! Would you mind if I included it in today's "best of gaming"?
Thanks!
Well, thousands of people isn't really "mainstream" these days ;)
Depends of price, example: zero-g flight 1,5 hours - $3300 per person, free t-shirt) ;-) btw, booked 2 months ahead: http://starcity-tours.com/
It's not mass-market