Development of an Inchworm-type drilling test-bed for planetary subsurface exploration and preliminary experiments

Abstract

This paper proposes an Inchworm Boring Robot(IBR) which is a type of wireline robot for planetary subsurface exploration. The IBR has two key tools-excavating auger and discharging auger which are directly interacted with the planetary regolith in the drilling process. For obtaining the drilling load characteristics of IBR, an inchworm-type drilling test-bed was developed for the drilling test of the IBR tools. In the inchworm-type drilling test-bed, drilling experiments with different drilling parameters had been conducted to test drilling moments of excavating auger and discharging auger in excavating working mode and discharging working mode, respectively. Based on the test results, the effect of drilling parameters on drilling moments was analyzed and the rotary speed of discharging auger is recommended in the range of 10 ~ 20rpm in excavating working mode while 15 ~ 30rpm in discharging working mode. These results in this paper will contribute to the design and autonomous control of IBR in future work.