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Robotics at JPL .

EELS (Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor)

A versatile, snake-like robot designed for exploration of previously inaccessible terrain

Robot Statistics

EELS 1.0 Mass

100000 Grams

EELS 1.0 Length

4.4 Meters

Status

In Development

Potential Destinations

Moon, Earth, Icy Moons

Animal Analog: Snake

About EELS (Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor)

EELS is designed to go places no one has ever seen before, on its own, without real-time human input. The concept for this self-propelled, autonomous robot was inspired by the desire to descend the narrow, geyser-spewing vents in the icy crust of Saturn’s moon Enceladus in order to look for signs of life in the ocean below.

A version of JPL’s EELS robot raises its sensor head during a field test in the snow at a ski resort in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California in February 2023.
Factoid

3D Situational Awareness

The EELS head "sees" and interprets the world using lidar and four stereo camera pairs, creating a 3D map of its environment.

Active Skin Locomotion
Factoid

Active Skin Locomotion

Independently actuated counter-rotating screws provide propulsion, traction, and grip on icy terrain and in unconsolidated material like snow and sand.

EELS: Varied environments
Factoid

Many Degrees of Freedom

EELS is able to adopt multiple shape configurations to adapt to varied environments in real time.

Intelligent agent
Factoid

Intelligent Agent

EELS’ risk-aware autonomy software is designed so the robot can pick the best path through uncertain terrain and make decisions to keep itself safe.

Team members from JPL test EELS at a ski resort in the Southern California mountains in February 2023. Designed to sense its environment, calculate risk, travel, and gather data without real-time human input, EELS could eventually explore destinations throughout the solar system.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Interns Jack Naish, left, and Guglielmo Daddi work on a version of the EELS robot

Interns Jack Naish, left, and Guglielmo Daddi work on a version of the EELS robot during an April 2023 test in the Mars Yard at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Members of JPL’s EELS team lower the robot’s sensor head – which uses lidar and stereo cameras to map its environment – into a vertical shaft called a moulin on Athabasca Glacier in Alberta in September 2022. The team will return to the location in 2023 and 2024 for additional tests with versions of the full snake robot.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
From left, EELS team members Hiro Ono, Rohan Thakker, Marlin Strub, and Michael Paton carry a prototype of the robot onto the ice for a field test at an ice rink in Pasadena in August 2022.

From left, EELS team members Hiro Ono, Rohan Thakker, Marlin Strub, and Michael Paton carry a prototype of the robot onto the ice for a field test at an ice rink in Pasadena in August 2022.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
rincipal Investigator Hiro Ono, just right of center, and members of JPL’s EELS team celebrate the first field test of a prototype of the robot

Principal Investigator Hiro Ono, just right of center, and members of JPL’s EELS team celebrate the first field test of a prototype of the robot at an ice rink in Pasadena, California, in August 2022.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
A version of JPL’s EELS robot raises its sensor head during a field test in the snow at a ski resort in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California in February 2023.

A version of JPL’s EELS robot raises its sensor head during a field test in the snow at a ski resort in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California in February 2023.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

JPL’s EELS (Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor) was conceived of as an autonomous snake robot that would descend narrow vents in the icy crust of Saturn’s moon Enceladus to explore the ocean hidden below. But prototypes of have been put to the test to prepare the robot for a variety of environments.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

This 2022 narrated animation shows the concept of operations for JPL’s EELS robot on Saturn’s moon Enceladus, which was the initial inspiration for the project.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech