Definition
Background:
NASA is
currently interested in
discovering efficient methods of breaking hard soil, chipping
rocks, and object manipulation (pushing, poking, scooping, etc.) on the
moon using robotics. The purpose is to reduce the amount of
physical work the astronauts must perform.
Regolith
on the lunar surface is
susceptible
to radiation and corrosion making it difficult to perform accurate
experiments. The corroded surface of rock must be chipped off
in
order to verify the components that make up the rock.
Regolith
on the moon is different
from soil on Earth since there is no wind to blow dust and rocks.
This leaves the regolith with sharp edges and makes it
difficult
to excavate. Since weight and power
consumption is limited on the moon, new techniques to loosen the soil
and remove it are needed to help future missions on the moon to be
performed.
This project began with
the Lunartics capstone senior design team. They designed and
built the 'L07' robot, seen in Figure 1. The L07 is a four
degree-of-freedom arm mounted on an aluminum frame with wheels for easy
mobility. The frame supports the electronic hardware required
to
control the arm. The L07 is able to perform very simple
movements, but has limited strength to break through hard soil or chip
rock.
Figure 1 - 'L07'
robot components
Mission Statement:
Redesign
the L07 robot to increase torque and rigidity in order to break through
hard soil and chip rock.
| # |
Client Needs (In order of importance) |
Specifications |
| 1 |
Break
Hard Soil |
250
pound-force |
| 2 |
Chip
Rock |
250
pound-force |
| 3 |
Excavation |
5-10
inches deep |
| 4 |
Weight |
100
pounds |
| 5 |
Power
Consumption |
8-16v
Lithium Ion Battery |
