LAMAlice: a nanorover for planetary exploration

Abstract

Over the last years considerable efforts in miniaturisation have been made in autonomous robotics, especially in the domain of space missions in order to reduce costs and increase chances of success if using several robots. This has led us to imagine and realise a prototype of a nanorover which shows an example of what planetary exploration could look like in the future. The robot is a four-wheel drive rover which is composed of two separate parts linked together with a flexible passive coupling. This configuration allows a "push-pull" effect improving the overcoming of an obstacle and offers good gripping. The wheels are made of flexible blades radially fixed on the axis. On the one hand this permits the wheel to be rolled up for transport, on the other hand a smooth movement of the gravity centre is reached, which increases power efficiency of the obstacle overcome. The robot also presents a simple structure and it is possible to equip it with a passive sensor like a very low-power camera as well as with active sensors. The power consumption is less than 50 mW which allows an operating time of roughly 20 hours with on-board batteries. LAMAlice is 11 cm long, 6 cm wide and 4 cm high and has a weight of 30 grams. The maximum speed is 1 cm/s and it overcomes steps of its own height.