Adaptation And Energy Efficiency - Towards Novel Locomotion Systems For Planetary Robots
- Paper number
IAC-07-D1.1.03
- Author
Prof. Carlo Menon, Simon Fraser University, Canada
- Coauthor
Mr. Paolo Corradi, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Italy
- Year
2007
- Abstract
Adaptation to the terrain environment is of utmost importance for autonomous and semi-autonomous robots designed for terrestrial and planetary exploration. Energy efficiency is extremely important too, as available power for autonomous space robotic applications is low. Adaptation to the terrain, which allows appropriate control of the robot motion, is currently limited and is achieved using one-purpose solutions as, e.g., shock absorbers and rocker-bogie systems. Adaptation can however be conceived in a much wider sense: robots could be designed to tackle drastically different kinds of terrain by reconfiguring their own locomotion system. The currently used locomotion system for planetary scouts, which is characterized by a very high-energy efficiency on smooth surfaces, relies on wheels, but research is now focusing also on the development of bio-inspired legged robots, more suitable to move on pebbly and rocky surfaces, or even hoppers, capable to overcome high obstacles. The possibility to combine more solutions in a single module, thus making the planetary probe capable to reconfigure its own locomotion system, would allow to perform a more versatile exploration mission, allowing the robot to explore the planetary surface moving smoothly on flat sandy soil, slowly legging among stones on rocky surfaces, or eventually even overcoming an obstacle jumping over it. The design of such an innovative adaptable locomotion system for planetary robots requires anyway to device a simple and reliable configuration, which allows an energy efficient locomotion on a large variety of terrains. The results of a study focused on adaptable and fully/partially reconfigurable scouts for space exploration are proposed and discussed in the frame of this paper.
- Abstract document