3D-R1's destiny isn't among the stars, but deep underground. The lil' robot managed to tread across 1.3 miles of subterranean tunnels of a San Jose silver mine in Mexico in only three and a half days. Its mission was to create a three dimensional map of the shafts using a laser scanner, and it performed 80 scans a day and established 100 million data points to form the map.

Remote survey vehicles like the 3D-R1 can perform in hazardous areas, and are faster and more thorough than their human masters. Having a 3D map of the mine is not only important for further planning, but future scans would show subtle shifts that would allow the mine's overseers to avoid potential problems.

3DLM, via Directions Magazine, via Robots.net