The nation's top minds are indeed putting their effort into developing space technology, such as lunar robots, for the upcoming missions beyond the low-Earth orbit.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) presented in a video the development of their Walking Oligomeric Robotic Mobility System (WORMS) modular lunar robot, which will help astronauts build and establish permanent human colonies on the lunar surface by being able to do different types of work.
Mix-and-Match Kit of Universal Robotic Parts
NASA and other space agencies around the world hope to build a permanent base on the lunar surface during their Moon mission, which would need assistance from robots. These machines will handle the hard lifting by installing wires, deploying solar panels, and building communication towers and habitats.
However, developing robots with a specific design to accomplish each of these tasks could be challenging. MIT recently revealed in a blog post that the WORMS robot is a mix-and-match kit of universal robotic parts that could rapidly configure into different robot "species" that resemble spiders, elephants, goats, and oxen.
WORMS' components include worm-inspired robotic limbs that can be quickly snapped onto a base and work together to form a walking robot. Parts may be configured to construct enormous "pack" bots capable of transporting hefty solar panels up a hill, for example, depending on the goal.
The same components might be reassembled into six-legged spider bots capable of drilling for frozen water in lava tubes. After completing a mission, a robot can be dismantled and its pieces repurposed to build a new robot to do a different duty.
George Lordos, a Ph.D., candidate and graduate instructor in MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro) and the team leader, explained that it is just like any tool that astronauts can get in a shed on the Moon where they pick the WORMS they need, along with the right body, shoes, sensors, and tools and snap them together to assemble into a robot and disassemble to make a new one. The design is cost-effective, flexible, and sustainable.
Initiative of the Students
According to MIT's press release, the leggy robot was created by students at MIT's Space Resources Workshop in response to NASA's Breakthrough, Innovative, and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Competition. The BIG competition challenges students to come up with big and game-changing ideas for spacefaring technology.
The team responsible for the development of the six-legged WORMS-1 prototype earned the Best Paper Award during the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' Aerospace Conference in Montana last week.
Moreover, the team from MIT's Space Resources Workshop took up the challenge and build a robot that could navigate the Moon's South Pole, which is known for its thick, fluffy dust, rocky and steep slopes, and deep lava. The region also hosts a permanent region site where frozen water is believed to exist.
For the robot's design, the students took inspiration from animals, noting that they could be suited to certain missions. For example, a spider could explore the lava tube, a line of elephants could carry heavy equipment, and an ox could help lead a larger animal up the side of a hill while transporting solar panels.
As they were brainstorming this concept, they realized that they could build all these animal-inspired robots using worm-like appendages.
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