Robots taking over other planets now

Not content to plan on taking over Earth, the robots are setting their sights on other planets, as well. The next in line, naturally, is the almost-hospitable-enough-for-human-lifeforms Mars, where the rovers already there are getting upgrades to give them more functionality for enslaving the martian population. This will set up the work pool necessary to terraform the surface so humans can be enslaved on two planets after the robot uprising.

Nasa is testing a “smart” upgrade to its robotic rovers on Mars.

Space agency scientists have begun testing four new skills included in flight software that has been uploaded to the rovers’ onboard computers.

The two American rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, are approaching their third year on the Martian surface.

One of the new capabilities is designed to allow the rovers to make “intelligent” decisions in the study of Martian clouds and dust devils.

. . .

Another novel skill, called “visual target tracking”, enables a rover to keep recognising a particular landscape feature as the rover moves.

Go read the full article for the other upgrades and features. There is no mention of the martian enslavement upgrade, but the other features lead naturally to this functionality, and since machines helped with making the software work, I expect some hidden back doors are there for the robots’ later self-extension work.

[tags]Mars rovers get upgraded software, Robots working to enslave martians as well, More news on the robot uprising[/tags]