Two four-legged robots recently explored a practice Mars yard, with a little help from an astronaut in space and several robot buddies.

The robot team, along with the "Neal AI" chatbot and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, worked together on tough tasks in a German site meant to simulate Mars terrain.

Kim took command of all four robots in July while orbiting Earth on the International Space Station (ISS). He beamed commands to a German space agency (DLR) facility in Oberpfaffenhofen, near Munich, to see how well the team could solve problems on the go.

The experiment's result? Enthusiasm.

"We have now achieved all the technical requirements for controlling complex robotic missions on Mars — and for a future permanent lunar research station," Alin Albu-Schäffer, director of DLR's institute of

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