Spherical Planetary Robot for Rugged Terrain Traversal

TL;DR

This paper introduces SphereX, a low-cost, spherical planetary robot designed for rugged terrain traversal, featuring hopping capabilities and stereo vision, aiming to complement larger rovers for high-reward scientific exploration.

Contribution

Development and analysis of a novel small, spherical, hopping planetary robot prototype for rugged terrain exploration, enhancing cost-effectiveness and tactical scientific data collection.

Findings

Prototype demonstrates effective visual navigation

Spherical design enables rugged terrain traversal

Potential for high-reward scientific missions

Abstract

Wheeled planetary rovers such as the Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs) and Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) have provided unprecedented, detailed images of the Mars surface. However, these rovers are large and are of high-cost as they need to carry sophisticated instruments and science laboratories. We propose the development of low-cost planetary rovers that are the size and shape of cantaloupes and that can be deployed from a larger rover. The rover named SphereX is 2 kg in mass, is spherical, holonomic and contains a hopping mechanism to jump over rugged terrain. A small low-cost rover complements a larger rover, particularly to traverse rugged terrain or roll down a canyon, cliff or crater to obtain images and science data. While it may be a one-way journey for these small robots, they could be used tactically to obtain high-reward science data. The robot is equipped with a pair of stereo cameras to perform visual navigation and has room for a science payload. In this paper, we analyze the design and development of a laboratory prototype. The results show a promising pathway towards development of a field system.