SILVRCLAW III-Advanced Wheel Design and Testing

Abstract

Enhancing robotic <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1,2</sup> surface mobility systems are a fundamental Mars Exploration Program goal because many surface-investigation goals require traversing significant distances in widely varying terrain conditions. SILVRCLAW (Stowable, Inflatable, Large, Vectran, Rigidizable, Cold-resistant, Lightweight, All-terrain Wheel) is an inflatable, rigidizable wheel technology that enables compact robotic vehicles to be deployed with significant ground clearance. Such a vehicle could traverse aggressive rocky terrains with a resultant low obstacle density (less than one obstacle per ~100m), travel over chasms with >1m separation, and offer the mission operator the ability to navigate with orbital-imaging resolution (i.e. with Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Highrise telescope). Because of its high intrinsic mobility, SILVRCLAW can negotiate substantial obstacles, thus allowing a robotic rover to climb over obstacles as opposed to driving around them. Such capability could dramatically increase terrain access and rover range for a given weight class. In previous work, we reported on the development and initial testing of a SILVRCLAW exoskeleton wheel shell for purposes of understanding mobility performance and wear in Mars-like simulants. In this work we discuss environmental testbed results of a new cleated SILVRCLAW exoskeleton shell and the current development of a prototype deployable SILVRCLAW.