Terrain-Adaptive Contact Surfaces
Written on November 1st , 2020 by Paul Dreyer
Background
I competed in the NASA Artemis Challenge in 2020. We were tasks to build a small <= 1ft^3 “lunar rover” that was to autonomously explore a simulated lunar lava tube. The rover would need to traverse multiple terrain types, and above all else not get stuck. A common way to deal with loose terrain is incorporating grousers into the traction surface . However, these cause large efficieny losses when traversing smoother terrain. To over come this, I developed this wheel shown above, which allows for active control of grouser height from wheel surface! A small stepper motor attaches to the back of each wheel, and drives a lead screw through a hollow axel. this moves some linkages that cause the radial actuation of the grousers (black) which actively change the contact geometry as the robot needs!
