Graham Mann
Director, Mars Society Australia
School of Information Technology
Murdoch University, Perth
Western Australia

I am a Senior Lecturer at the School of Information Technology at Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia, where I teach artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction. My principal interests are robotics and space exploration. I’ve designed and built a number of experimental robots, including the Curi-3 automated cleaning robot, the TarBaby humanoid, and the SmartArm vision-based manipulator. I am currently building a teleoperated six-legged service robot called Mascot, the purpose of which is to automate, or semi-automate, maintenance activities at remote science stations, such as a human base on Mars.

I have participated in a number of Mars Society field activities, such as the Jantimarra expedition to the central Australian deserts (2001) and Expedition One at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah (2003), where I conducted field trials of three prototype pressurised exploration rovers and served as station engineer during simulations.

I am currently a Director in the Mars Society Australia and the manager of Project Marsupial, which is now constructing a prototype pressurised vehicle for Mars explorers called the Starchaser Rover. My purpose on the Spaceward Bound 2009 expedition is to field test the Mascot robot and further develop the machine for maintenance applications in a difficult Mars-like environment.