Design and Tele-Operation of a Lunar Excavator for the NASA Centennial Challenge

The desire to colonize the moon has prompted an examination of ways to mine lunar regolith to create a solid foundation for NASA's 2020 Lunar Base and/or recover O2, water, or He-3. Accordingly, NASA created a Centennial Challenge directed at various North American groups to design excavators to mine regolith. Several mechanical and operational challenges exist because of the unique physical properties of regolith — high internal friction angle, high compressibility, and a very-fine particle size distribution leading to dust entrainment in excavator components. UBC-Thunderbird Robotics Team TREAD — a University of British Columbia student club — has been working for two years on a viable approach to this problem. This paper presents an effective design based on a scraper excavator from Miskin Scraper Works. Details about the NASA Centennial Challenge will also be given.