2017/01/26 by Jekanthan Thangavelautham, Jekan Thangavelautham, Mark S. Robinson +12
Computer Science · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Computer and information sciences #FOS: Physical sciences #Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) #Modular Robots and Swarm Intelligence #Opportunistic and Delay-Tolerant Networks #Planetary Science and Exploration #Robotic Path Planning Algorithms #Robotics (cs.RO) #astro-ph.IM #cs.RO
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1701.07799
in Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Instrumentation for Planetary Missions 2014
arxiv created 2017/01/26 · openalex publication_date 2017/01/26 · arxiv updated 2017/01/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Wheeled ground robots are limited from exploring extreme environments such as caves, lava tubes and skylights. Small robots that utilize unconventional mobility through hopping, flying and rolling can overcome many roughness limitations and thus extend exploration sites of interest on Moon and Mars. In this paper we introduce a network of 3 kg, 0.30 m diameter ball robots (pit-bots) that can fly, hop and roll using an onboard miniature propulsion system. These pit-bots can be deployed from a lander or large rover. Each robot is equipped with a smartphone sized computer, stereo camera and laser rangefinder to per-form navigation and mapping. The ball robot can carry a payload of 1 kg or perform sample return. Our studies show a range of 5 km and 0.7 hours flight time on the Moon.