Revolutionary Robots Gear Up for Mars
Getting a leg up on Mars requires muscle power. But if you are a robot, using muscle wire will put spring into your step.
The University of Arizona is home to a mechanized menagerie of sorts. Need a pick-me-up burst of power on Mars to hop over a rock? How do you refill your fuel tank when the nearest gas pump is millions of miles back on Earth?
These are a few of the challenges being tackled here by Professor Kumar Ramohalli and his students at the school's aerospace and engineering department.
Ramohalli also directs the Space Engineering Research Center at the university. This group studies how to use on-the-spot resources on the moon, Mars, or the asteroids.
Pit stop on Mars
Having a space robot make its own gasoline and oxidizer so it can keep on going…and going…and going is the thought behind a planetary explorer that refuels itself.
The refillable robot also has the ability to generate power bursts. The need for quick and snappy surges of power is a direct message from earlier robots sent to the Red Planet.
Look under the hood
A robot of a different stripe is the cute and cuddly BiRoD. Meant to mimic biological systems, this little critter is far simpler than past robots, explains Roberto Furfaro, an aerospace engineering student at the university.
Cute looking BiRoD, ready for active duty.
As a micro-beast of burden, BiRoD features the latest innovations, such as muscle wires, chemical energy storage, mechanical conversion concepts and sensors. Everything is packed within a 12-inch (30-centimeter) long box, set atop a combination wheel/leg system.
The robot reproduces the movement of the animal world. That is why it's tagged a "biomorphic" robot.
Muscle wires are used in the robot, made of a melding of nickel and titanium, to produce a memory alloy. "They have a nice property. When you heat it up, it changes its structure. When muscle wire contracts it produces a force, and you can use this action for moving the robot,The big deal is that there's nothing under the hood. No gears, no levers, no transmission, no motors -- that's what makes it light and reliable," .