Infrastructure Robotics: A Trade-off Study Examining both Autonomously and Manually Controlled Approaches to Lunar Excavation and Construction

Abstract

NASA‘s planned permanent return to the Moon by the year 2018 will demand advances in many technologies. Just as those pioneers who built a homestead in North America from abroad, it will be necessary to use the resources and materials available on the Moon, commonly referred to as in-situ resource utilization. In this concept study, we propose a role for autonomous, multirobot robotic precursor excavation missions that would prepare a lunar site for the arrival of astronauts, serving to establish methods of collecting oxygen, water and various other critical resources. A novel quantitative approach is presented that combines real-time 3D simulation with the use of Artificial Neural Tissues, a machine\nlearning approach that produces autonomous controllers requiring little human supervision. Advantages of the autonomous multirobot approach to excavation over the traditional manually operated single vehicle ones are analyzed in terms of launch mass, power, efficiency, reliability, and overall mission cost.