Evolvable robots swarm with shared intelligence
to settle unknown and explored areas

INTRODUCTION

Under Moonshot Goal 3 of the Cabinet Office Moonshot Research and Development Program, the evolution of AI and robots will lead to the realization of robots that autonomously learn and act alongside human beings by 2050.
This project aims to build systems for simple and compact robots to cooperate and evolve as groups (=swarms) in order to explore and establish bases within lunar lava tubes, which represents unknown and unexplored areas.
Three R&D themes have been set to achieve this aim, and various research organizations are pooling their resources to carry out the necessary research.

In 2009, cavities resembling underground caves were discovered on the Moon. Japan’s lunar orbiter SELENE, better known by its nickname “Kaguya,” discovered an enormous vertical shaft believed to be 100 meters in diameter and 100 meters deep, and determined that a horizontal cavity extended from the shaft.
The lunar surface reaches 110 degrees Celsius (°C) during the day, and falls to -170 °C overnight. Without an atmosphere, the Moon’s surface is an extremely dangerous environment, exposed to cosmic radiation, and bombarded by meteorites and other debris.

If humanity is to establish a base on the Moon, these lava tubes that form underground caves are believed to be the ideal location, as they offer protection from incoming objects from space and moderate the wild temperature fluctuations that occur on the lunar surface.
To explore and settle these underground caves and lava tubes on the Moon, we will send swarms of small robots.