Research/ PLANETARY ROBOTICS
ReachBot Field Tests in a Mojave Desert Lava Tube as a Martian Analog
Tony G. Chen, Julia Di, Stephanie Newdick, Mathieu Lapotre, Marco Pavone, Mark R. Cutkosky
Surface Mobility & TerramechanicsOpenAlex topic: Soil Mechanics and Vehicle Dynamics · Manipulation & GraspingOpenAlex keyword: robotic grasping · Design, Mechanisms & HardwareOpenAlex topic: Soft Robotics and Applications
arXivcs.ROOpenAlexSoil Mechanics and Vehicle Dynamics · Soft Robotics and Applications · Planetary Science and Exploration
ReachBot is a robot concept for the planetary exploration of caves and lava tubes, which are often inaccessible with traditional robot locomotion methods. It uses extendable booms as appendages, with grippers mounted at the end, to grasp irregular rock surfaces and traverse these difficult terrains. We have built a partial ReachBot prototype consisting of a single boom and gripper, mounted on a tripod. We present the details on the design and field test of this partial ReachBot prototype in a lava tube in the Mojave Desert. The technical requirements of the field testing, implementation details, and grasp performance results are discussed. The planning and preparation of the field test and lessons learned are also given.
Comments: Accepted to the IEEE ICRA Workshop on Field Robotics 2024; 4 pages