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Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute

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Abstract

Scarab is a prototype rover for Lunar missions to survey resources in polar craters. It is designed as a prospector that would use a deep coring drill and apply soil analysis instruments to measure the abundance of elements of hydrogen and oxygen and other volatiles including water. Scarab’s chassis can adjust the wheelbase and height to stabilize its drill in contact with the ground and can also adjust posture to better ascend and descend steep slopes. This enables unique control of posture when moving and introduces new planning issues. Scarab has undergone field testing at Lunar-analog sites in Washington and Hawaii in an effort to quantify and validate its mobility and navigation capabilities. We report on results of the experi- ments in slope ascent and descent and in autonomous kilometer-distance navigation in darkness.

Keywords

Space and planetary robotics, rough-terrain mobility, autonomous navigation, Hawaii field experiment

Notes

Associated Center(s) / Consortia: Field Robotics Center

Associated Project(s): Lunar Rover Initiative

Number of pages: 16

Text Reference

David Wettergreen, Scott Jared Moreland, Krzysztof Skonieczny, Dominic Jonak, David Kohanbash, and James Teza, "Design and field experimentation of a prototype Lunar prospector ," International Journal of Robotics Research, Vol. 29, No. 12, October, 2010, pp. 1550 - 1564.

BibTeX Reference

@article{Wettergreen_2010_6732,
   author = "David Wettergreen and Scott Jared Moreland and Krzysztof Skonieczny and Dominic Jonak and David Kohanbash and James Teza",
   title = "Design and field experimentation of a prototype Lunar prospector ",
   journal = "International Journal of Robotics Research",
   pages = "1550 - 1564",
   month = "October",
   year = "2010",
   volume = "29",
   number = "12",
}

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