Zoe is an autonomous, solar powered robot developed by The Carnegy Mellon University. It is used to for surface exploration and can be used on other planets like Mars.
NASA, together with Carnegie Mellon University, have been succesfully testing the robotic rover in the Atacama desert of Chili in 2005 where it collected and analyzed soil looking for microorganisms.
recently zoe was sent back to the desert equiped with some new equipment which includes a drill which was made by Honeybee Robotics. This drill will be used to take samples deep underground in search of minerals and lifeforms.
Zoe is powered by solar energy and therefor has a solarpanel of about 3 square meters on top. Because Zoe is solar powered, most of the exploration will be done during daytime.
Carnegie Mellon U. (CMU)
