Robot ball explores Mars

In the future, the search for life in Mars can be assigned to ball-shaped robots.

In the fall of next year, the US Space and Aeronautics Agency (NASA) plans to launch the largest self-propelled ship to explore Mars. The vessel is called Mars Research Laboratory (MRL), the size of a 2-bridge car and costs $ 1.8 billion. According to a group of Swedish experts, although the MRL is 5 times more efficient than the Spirit and Opportunity self-propelled ships currently on the Red planet, it can perform a much better task if it is accompanied. by a support robot team.

Fredrik Bruhn, CEO of Angstrom Aerospace (based in Uppsala city), and his colleagues have designed small inflatable "scouts" to support self-propelled "big ships" "in the process of finding life on Mars. Each robot has a diameter of 30 cm and weighs about 5 kg when pumped with xena gas, which can roll as far as 100 km with just one charge. Robot shells are made of polyaryletheretherketone, a super durable plastic and resistant to high temperatures.

There is a metal shaft in the middle of the robot with a control device, motor, camera, antenna, pendulum attached. In particular, the pendulum plays an extremely important role because it governs the operation mechanism of the robot ball. When the engine impacts the pendulum so that it moves forward, the robot ball will rotate to meet the change of gravity. To "drive" the robot, the pendulum can move to the side.

The robot can take pictures from any angle, sample the soil for testing, and use the power from the hexagonal solar panels on the shell. Unlike self-propelled ships, these robotic assistants have less engine to repair, are not overturned and are difficult to dust (thanks to ultrasonic cleaning equipment). Bruhn said: "The attraction of this system is that it needs very little energy to roll over the surface of the rock. So unless you let the self-propelled ship land on a nail bed, everything will not. problem with robot assistants ".

In 2004, Mr. Bruhn helped found Rotundus, the Swedish company that built GroundBot, a robot that works on the surface of the earth and is currently patrolling a test at a port in Stockholm. During the design of the robot ball, Bruhn's team attracted the participation of engineers at Uppsala University and NASA experts. Mr. Bruhn said it was possible to build 4 robot balls for Mars with only 6 million USD.