This robot camera looks like a PIXAR character and is ready to photograph the moon

A close-up shot of a small, white and blue rover on the simulated lunar surface in a low-light environment. The rover has six wheels, a large sensor head on top, and a compact body.

If Wall-E and a Mars rover had a baby, it would look like LRU1. With its bulbous white "head" packed with cameras and a sturdy tracked body, this German Aerospace Center (DLR) rover looks like it wandered straight out of a Pixar animation studio. But don't let its cuteness fool you. This robot is serious about photography, as comes equipped with some of the most advanced imaging technology ever destined for lunar exploration.

LRU1's distinctive wide head houses a multispectral stereo panoramic camera system that sees far beyond what our eyes (or conventional cameras) can perceive. While photographers on Earth obsess over capturing the perfect RGB colour balance, this rover is measuring image data across wavelength ranges that extend well into the infrared and ultraviolet spectrum.