Spacebot from Switzerland
To Roam the Moon, Mars and Asteroids
Dynamic Walking & Flight Phases
The Spacebot, a quadruped robot, was created by students at the ETH Zurich and ZHAW Zurich, Switzerland. It's designed to travel in low gravity environments like the Moon, asteroids and Mars. It travels by "Dynamic Walking" similar to the travel methods used by the original lunar explorers, the Apollo 11 crew, who used a hopping gait in the low gravity environment of the Moon, 50 years ago.
Dynamic Walker
The bot travels by leaping. All four legs leave the ground and leap to heights over six feet. This allows for full flight phases with all legs off the ground. The lower the gravity the longer the flying time. The Spacebot is currently being tested at the European Space Agency (ESA). The Swiss team says the robot basically behaves like a mini-spacecraft. They add, this type of dynamic walking is more efficient and saves energy in low gravity environments like Mars and the Moon.
Dynamic Bot
The robot has spring-loaded legs that store energy and releases it for the next leap. It also has a reaction wheel similar to that used in satellites. The wheel enables the robot to take off and land safely and get acclimated on the ground for exploring. The next step is to take Spacebot out of the ESA test labs in the Netherlands where lunar gravity is simulated and into the real world to take on challenging terrain. For a free Kindle borrow of my latest book "Big Space News 2019", go to amazon.com/author/ekane ASIN: B07TYG31KM
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| Source: ETH Zurich |
Dynamic Walking & Flight Phases
The Spacebot, a quadruped robot, was created by students at the ETH Zurich and ZHAW Zurich, Switzerland. It's designed to travel in low gravity environments like the Moon, asteroids and Mars. It travels by "Dynamic Walking" similar to the travel methods used by the original lunar explorers, the Apollo 11 crew, who used a hopping gait in the low gravity environment of the Moon, 50 years ago.
Dynamic Walker
The bot travels by leaping. All four legs leave the ground and leap to heights over six feet. This allows for full flight phases with all legs off the ground. The lower the gravity the longer the flying time. The Spacebot is currently being tested at the European Space Agency (ESA). The Swiss team says the robot basically behaves like a mini-spacecraft. They add, this type of dynamic walking is more efficient and saves energy in low gravity environments like Mars and the Moon.
Dynamic Bot
The robot has spring-loaded legs that store energy and releases it for the next leap. It also has a reaction wheel similar to that used in satellites. The wheel enables the robot to take off and land safely and get acclimated on the ground for exploring. The next step is to take Spacebot out of the ESA test labs in the Netherlands where lunar gravity is simulated and into the real world to take on challenging terrain. For a free Kindle borrow of my latest book "Big Space News 2019", go to amazon.com/author/ekane ASIN: B07TYG31KM
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