The Japanese company GITAI has tested a remote-controlled robot designed to work on the moon.
The lunar rover with robotic arms assembled a model of a solar battery, took soil samples and drove over difficult terrain.
For more than a decade, there has been a discussion about whether it is worth organizing landings of astronauts on the Moon and Mars, or whether it is better to study these bodies with automatic stations.
Proponents of manned missions point out that rovers and robots are still very far behind humans in terms of quality, speed and versatility of work.
At the same time, sending people to the surface of the Moon or Mars requires much heavier vehicles and rockets for them, partly due to the need to return astronauts back to Earth.
As an alternative, space agencies are testing a new approach that combines the advantages of these two: they propose to land lunar rovers and robots on the surface of the Moon, but controlled by astronauts from orbit.
Since the astronauts will be relatively close to the machines, the signal delay will be minimal and control will be almost real-time.
In December 2021, GITAI and JAXA tested a prototype remote-controlled lunar rover at a test site that simulates the surface of the moon.
It has four independent wheels that can turn to any angle, so the robot can move sideways, turn around on the spot and perform any other maneuvers.
In the front part is a remote-controlled robot that mimics the upper half of the human body: it has a torso, two arms and a head.
The head has a flashlight and two cameras with which the operator can see the stereoscopic video broadcast to him on a VR helmet.
VR controllers are used to control the robotic arms and the rover itself.
The developers tested the prototype on three tasks:
moving on the ground, including sloping ground and with stones,
assembling a mock-up solar battery on a rod, and
taking soil samples into a container.
During the ride, the lunar rover coped with stones a few centimeters high and drove up the hill without falling.
To collect the soil, the robot took out a set of jars and spatulas from the case, unscrewed the lid and poured soil into it, then closed it and took it back.
Finally, the rover succeeded in assembling the solar generator by moving between the crate of components and the construction site several times, assembling a battery mock-up from several components.
GITAI notes that the tests were considered successful, and it plans to conduct a demonstration in real conditions on the surface of the Moon in the mid-2020s.
Source:
GITAI: https://gitai.tech/en/2022/02/10/gitai-develops-lunar-robotic-rover-r1/
Inceptive Mind: https://www.inceptivemind.com/gitai-tests-lunar-robotic-rover-r1-simulated-lunar-environment/23325/