Modular, Multifunctional and Reconfigurable SuperBot for Space Applications

Abstract

[Abstract] The traditional approach of building special robots for each of a large variety of tasks in space may become increasingly impractical because it requires many specialized robots that are expensive and difficult to deploy. This paper describes a new SuperBot robotic system that uses modularity and selfreconfiguration as an effective means to achieve low cost, multifunction, and adaptive capabilities. SuperBot consists of Lego-like but autonomous robotic modules that can reconfigure into different systems for different tasks. Examples of configurable systems include rolling tracks or wheels (for efficient travel), spiders or centipedes (for climbing), snakes (for burrowing in ground), long arms (for inspection and repair in space), and devices that can fly in micro-gravity environment. Each module is a complete robotic system and has a power supply, micro-controllers, sensors, communication, three degrees of freedom, and six connecting faces (front, back, left, right, up and down) to dynamically connect to other modules. This design allows flexible bending, docking, and continuous rotation. A single module can move forward, back, left, right, flip-over, and rotate as a wheel. Modules can communication with each other for totally distributed control and can support arbitrary module reshuffling during their operation. They have both internal and external sensors for monitoring self status and environmental parameters. They can form arbitrary configurations (graphs) and can control these configurations for different functionality such as locomotion, manipulation, and self-repair. Some application scenarios have been developed to utilize the new capability, and they include Multi-Use Lunar Explorer (MULE), a Habitat Maintenance and Operations System (HOMS), a cost-effective robotic method to detect H2O or seismic features, and a set of flying maneuvers and miniRMS for inspection and maintenance on and near CEV or Space Station.