Weinberg hopes other developers will be inspired to create more apps to expand Shimi's creative and interactive capabilities, allowing the machine to leave the lab and head into the real world.
"We can obtain real-life data to train our algorithms in large amounts that would practically be impossible to get in any other way, " said Leopold Summerer, head of the Esa lab that developed the app.
Construction workers push carts on rail tracks, left over from mining days, through seemingly endless tunnels carved through metamorphic rock, while scientists head straight to their lab spaces, spotless and chilly in their fresh coat of white paint.