Watch Again | RAS Prestigious Lecture – AI Robotics for Sustainable Space Exploration and Exploitation by Prof Yang Gao, University of Surrey

Abstract

The global space sector is moving toward the New Space era driven by commercialization and resource exploitation, where AI robotics will play central roles and be directly responsible for meeting stringent requirements in cost, operability, reusability, and sustainability of long-lived assets in the harsh space environments.

The lecture reviews the AI robotics roadmap for space missions and what’s over the horizon. It presents latest research work and technology development involving robotic vision, machine learning and biomimetic mechanisms, applicable to mission scenarios such as formation flying, on-obit assembly, active debris removal, planetary sample return and ISRU.

About the Speaker

Professor Yang Gao (FIET FRAeS) is the Professor of Space Autonomous Systems at University of Surrey and the head of STAR LAB. She specializes in robotic sensing, perception, visual GNC and biomimetic mechanisms for the extreme environments.

Prof Gao has been the PI of inter/nationally projects, funded by EPSRC, STFC, InnovateUK, Royal Academy of Engineering, European Commission, European Space Agency (ESA), UK Space Agency as well as various industrial companies. She is actively involved in design and development of real-world space missions including ESA ExoMars, Proba3 and lunar VMMO, UK MoonLITE/Moonraker, and CNSA Chang’E3.

She also actively serves the wider space and robotics community, as the Editor-in-Chief of Wiley’s Journal of Field Robotics, and the Mentor of United Nations Space4Women program.