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Oh, the places you'll game: Aerospace engineers use Steam Deck to steer Mars rover prototype

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Oh, the places you'll game: Aerospace engineers use Steam Deck to steer Mars rover prototype

Here's one for you: Let's say you're a scientist tasked with designing an intuitive physical interface for a human operator to remotely control a robot destined to rove Mars. What do you do? Well, it turns out there's no need to reinvent the wheel.

Airbus recently showed off its ExoMars rover to documentarian Tom Scott, even letting him have a go at steering it. The remote control device the aerospace company uses turns out to be a modified Steam Deck. Whether it's the LCD or OLED model, I can't say but it looks like the standard version to me.

During the short documentary, the rover is driven forward via the handheld gaming PC. A 'bumper' press then turns the wheels around 90-degrees, avoiding the need for an awkward turning circle or the possibility of getting stuck on a space rock.

The team at the aerospace company's Stevenage campus in the UK are developing autonomous navigation for the ExoMars rover, using what appears to be custom software running from a Steam Deck to navigate the terrain of their test bed. When the rover finally touches down on the Red Planet, it won't need to be steered via Valve's handheld.

The company is aiming to send a rover called the Rosalind Franklin to Mars in 2030, with the whole project described as " the culmination of more than 20 years’ work ," by Airbus Defence and Space UK managing director Kata Escott (via Tom's Hardware ). In addition to autonomous navigation, the company is also developing the rover landing platform's mechanical, thermal and propulsion systems.


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