On the desolate lunar surface, a shimmering spaceship with a long robotic arm stands out dazzlingly against the black sky, while the line of a furrow can be faintly seen on the lunar surface.

When the Chinese space agency released the image after China’s Chang’e 6 probe collected the first samples from the far side of the moon in June, it spread like wildfire on Chinese social media platforms, raising people’s curiosity about how the photo was taken. Chinese space engineers recently revealed the “secret photographer.”

It was an autonomous, intelligent mini-robot weighing less than five kilograms that was attached to the Chang’e 6 lander during the mission’s journey to the moon, said its developer, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

After Chang’e 6 had collected its lunar samples, the mini-robot detached itself from the lander, moved to a suitable position, selected an ideal angle for the shot, and then took the image.

According to CASC, it is the world’s first autonomous intelligent robot to land on the far side of the moon. Despite its compact size, it is extremely powerful and has considerable autonomous intelligence.

Equipped with artificial intelligence based on neural networks, the robot can think and reason like a human, said Xing Yan, a researcher at CASC. It can perform many tasks that are not possible with conventional methods, such as adjusting the camera angle, she said.

Traditional lunar photography missions require precise calculations to determine the relative distance, position and ideal time to take images. However, on the Chang’e-6 mission, the robot did not need exact calculations. Instead, it autonomously evaluated and refined its approach based on the quality of the images it captured, ensuring an optimal visual outcome.

Extensive learning was required to gain the necessary experience. The researchers prepared a variety of lights to help the robot learn and adapt to the unique lighting conditions on the far side of the moon, where the light source is unique and the background is the inky expanse of space, said Huang Huang, another CASC researcher.

She still remembers her online shopping spree where she bought various lamps such as fishing lights, camping lights and stage lights to adapt the mini robot to different lighting conditions.

The researchers developed a model of the environment based on the lights. By immersing the robot in the environment, they facilitated its learning process and ultimately enabled it to make intelligent photographic decisions.

The mini robot is not only clever, it also has a robust “body” to cope with the complex environment on the far side of the moon.

In contrast to the relatively flat front side of the Moon, the far side has more complex terrain characterized by more mountains, deep valleys and craters.

The researchers conducted numerous simulation experiments with the mini robot, working on special types of terrain.

The research team had to repeatedly adjust the structure and technical details of the mini-robot to meet the requirements for the Chang’e-6 mission. The constant series of setbacks at times raised doubts about the design principles, Xing said.

“But no matter how challenging, exhausting or stressful the situation was, we managed to calm down and tackle the problems first,” she said.

Despite its high technological complexity, the mini robot was inexpensive to manufacture. As the technology continues to develop, the potential applications are diverse.

It can be redesigned into various forms, such as a floor sweeping robot, a household assistant, a companion robot and a learning robot. It is also capable of conducting inspections in confined spaces such as narrow caves or pipelines, Xing said.

Xinhua