Concept Study of a Small-Scale Dynamic Legged Robot for Lunar Exploration ...

• Main Authors: Trentini, Marco, Arm, Philip, Valsecchi, Giorgio, Kolvenbach, Hendrik, Hutter, Marco
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: ETH Zurich 2023
• Subjects: Legged Robotics; Space Robotics; Space Exploration; Lunar exploration; South pole
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000637579; http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/637579

When it comes to the exploration of the lunar surface, many high-reward targets, such as the craters at the lunar south pole or the Aristarchus Plateau, lie in hard-to-reach areas due to steep slopes, crater rims, and unstructured terrain. Therefore, such high-risk high-reward targets are currently out of human and robotic reach. Legged robots present a promising approach to exploring hard-to-access targets on the Moon. Legged robot prototypes have shown impressive locomotion capabilities in sloped, unstructured terrain in analog environments. However, despite their success in locomotion validation tests, we currently lack a target- and mission-specific analysis and design of the locomotion pattern, the thermal requirements, and the power system. We have set our goal to develop a small-scale, legged, technology demonstration robot. In this paper, we present our conceptual work on such a robot, targeting a traverse distance of 200 m and a payload capability of 1.5 kg. Our study showcases a basic locomotion ... : IAC 2023 Conference Proceedings ...