A Robot That Copies Geckos, Walks In Zero Gravity
January 5th, 2008The M.A.R.S. (Multi-Appendage Robot System) is a robotic instrument designed in conjunction with the NASA JPL to be used in zero gravity to walk outside the space station (to perform maintenance tasks), or next-generation space exploration tasks.
For traction, the robot cannot use magnets (because of aluminum or ceramic surfaces) or suction cups (due to lack of air). Therefore, its feet are covered with microscopic hair with adhesive properties not too different from the appendage system of geckos. According to this BBC article, the little lizards have tiny hairs and pads on their feet that produce electrical attractions, literally gluing them down to any kind of surface - even polished glass.
The hexapod robot can perform six-dimensional range space calculations in order to maintain balance in space. LabVIEW RealTime software enables the robot to perform this control analysis in the vicinity of 25 nanoseconds.
Click here to download a video (37MB) of the M.A.R.S. robot demonstration.
The video also briefly talks about contact force calculation for a three-legged, winch-supported robot that can tackle adverse vertical terrain.
Here is a paper (pdf) by Dr. Dennis W Hong (who also presents the video demonstration) that goes into further detail about the NASA JPL LEMUR IIa design (that the MARS robot is based on), along with references to other robotic gait systems.
