Title :
Exploring Mars Using a Group of Tumbleweed Rovers
Author :
Southard, Lori ; Hoeg, Thomas M. ; Palmer, Daniel W. ; Antol, Jeffrey ; Kolacinski, Richard M. ; Quinn, Roger D.
Author_Institution :
Case Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, OH
Abstract :
Current Mars exploration and science is limited to orbiters and areas close to original rover landing sites. Most of the places of geological interest lay many kilometers outside of suitable landing sites. In-situ resources such as wind can enable rovers to travel great distances on Mars while using little internal power. In this paper, a dynamic model of an individual wind driven rover is used to enhance a stochastic simulation of multiple rovers traversing the Martian environment. The results from this simulation support the claim that a group of rovers equipped with minimal control mechanisms or internal energy sources can autonomously disperse and explore Mars.
Keywords :
Mars; mobile robots; planetary rovers; planetary surfaces; robot dynamics; Mars exploration; Martian environment; biologically-inspired robotics; dynamic model; tumbleweed rovers; wind driven rover; wind-driven locomotion; Biological system modeling; Costs; Mars; NASA; Navigation; Robot kinematics; Space exploration; Space technology; Vehicle dynamics; Wind; Mars rover; biologically-inspired robotics; group behavior; wind-driven locomotion;
Conference_Titel :
Robotics and Automation, 2007 IEEE International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Roma
Print_ISBN :
1-4244-0601-3
Electronic_ISBN :
1050-4729
DOI :
10.1109/ROBOT.2007.363080