Robotic settlers: Francesco Burlando, ‘Anthroporobotocene: Non-human Players for Non-terrestrial Habitats’, in Claudio Gambardella (ed.), For Nature/With Nature: New Sustainable Design Scenarios, Springer, 2024, pp. 981-997

07May24

Abstract: The paper explores the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in designing facilities for human habitation in non-terrestrial habitats, particularly on the Moon and Mars. The author propose the concept of “Anthroporobotocene” to highlight the significant role of robots in shaping these environments to make them suitable for human life. The paper analyzes the state-of-the-art in the production of designs for future living scenarios on these planets, highlighting the potential of innovative tools that are increasingly making their appearance in the design world. The author presents a speculative view of the outputs created by AI systems, including text-to-text and text-to-image models. The text-to-text model was used to obtain an accurate description of what a building designed for Mars might look like, and the text-to-image model was used to convert the textual output into various graphic illustrations. The paper concludes that while AI is not yet mature enough to fully curate architectural or product designs, platforms with inherent graphical capabilities can provide interesting visual suggestions. Overall, the paper contributes to ongoing discussions about the challenges of space exploration and the role of technology in designing, building and developing living environments that promote the mental and physical well-being of the settlers of non-terrestrial habitats.