The competitors involved finding and identifying minerals on a test site imitated the surface area of the Moon. In a recent paper published in the journal Science Robotics, the scientists explain how they set about exploring an unknown terrain using a group of robotics.
Insurance against failure
” Using several robots has 2 advantages,” discusses Philip Arm, a doctoral student in the group led by ETH Professor Marco Hutter. “The specific robots can handle specialized tasks and perform them simultaneously. Thanks to its redundancy, a robot group is able to compensate for a teammates failure.” Redundancy in this case suggests that essential measuring devices is set up on a number of robotics. In other words, redundancy and specialization are opposing objectives. “Getting the benefits of both refers finding the right balance,” Arm says.
Swiss engineers are making robots suitable for future lunar objectives to browse for minerals and raw products. To make sure that the devices can continue to work even if among them fails, the scientists are teaching them teamwork. Credit: University of Zurich/ Central IT– MELS
The researchers at ETH Zurich and the Universities of Basel, Bern, and Zurich resolved this issue by gearing up two of the legged robotics as professionals. One robotic was programmed to be particularly excellent at mapping the terrain and classifying the geology.
The 3rd robotic was a generalist: it had the ability to both map the surface and determine rocks, which implied that it had a wider variety of jobs than the professionals. Its devices meant that it could perform these jobs with less precision. “This makes it possible to complete the objective must any among the robots breakdown,” Arm says.
Mix is key
At the ESRIC and ESA Space Resources Challenge, the jury was particularly satisfied that the scientists had actually built redundancy into their expedition system to make it resilient to possible failures. As a reward, the Swiss researchers and their coworkers from the FZI Research Center for Information Technology in Karlsruhe, were awarded an one-year research agreement to further establish this innovation. In addition to legged robots, this work will also include robotics with wheels, developing on the FZI scientists experience with such robotics.
” Legged robots like our ANYmal cope well in rocky and high terrain, for instance when it pertains to climbing down into a crater,” describes Hendrik Kolvenbach, a senior researcher in Professor Hutters group. Robots with wheels are at a downside in these type of conditions, however they can move much faster on less difficult surface. For a future mission, it would therefore make good sense to combine robots that vary in terms of their mode of locomotion. Flying robots could also be contributed to the team.
The scientists likewise plan to make the robotics more self-governing. Currently, all data from the robots flows into a control center, where an operator assigns jobs to the individual robotics. In the future, semi-autonomous robots could directly appoint specific tasks to each other, with control and intervention options for the operator.
Reference: “Scientific expedition of challenging planetary analog environments with a team of legged robots” by Philip Arm, Gabriel Waibel, Jan Preisig, Turcan Tuna, Ruyi Zhou, Valentin Bickel, Gabriela Ligeza, Takahiro Miki, Florian Kehl, Hendrik Kolvenbach and Marco Hutter, 12 July 2023, Science Robotics.DOI: 10.1126/ scirobotics.ade9548.
A team is higher than the sum of its parts– the trio of legged robots during a test in a Swiss gravel quarry. Credit: ETH Zurich/ Takahiro Miki
The Moon holds untapped resources that humans may eventually utilize and draw out. Organizations like the European Space Agency (ESA) are preparing to delve much deeper into our celestial neighbor to recognize these minerals.
To successfully hunt the lunar surface area, a team of Swiss researchers from ETH Zurich envisions not simply dispatching a single rover, but a collaborated fleet of cars and flying devices that can work in tandem.
The scientists geared up three ANYmal– a type of legged robotic developed at ETH– with a series of measuring and analysis instruments that would possibly make them ideal expedition devices in the future. They checked these robots on different terrains in Switzerland and at the European Space Resources Innovation Centre (ESRIC) in Luxembourg, where, a few months earlier, the Swiss team won a European competition for lunar exploration robots together with associates from Germany.
The scientists at ETH Zurich and the Universities of Basel, Bern, and Zurich fixed this issue by equipping two of the legged robots as professionals. In addition to legged robotics, this work will also include robotics with wheels, constructing on the FZI researchers experience with such robotics.
” Legged robots like our ANYmal cope well in high and rocky terrain, for example when it comes to climbing down into a crater,” describes Hendrik Kolvenbach, a senior scientist in Professor Hutters group. Flying robots could also be included to the team.
Currently, all information from the robots streams into a control center, where an operator appoints tasks to the private robotics.