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Can we have a direct link dicktice? I think I can imagine what you're getting at, I'm just concerned as to whether or not the ride would be bumpy. Perhaps such a design could be less bumpy than wheels, since you might have more time to dampen the movement.
Some useful links while MER are active. [url=http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html]Offical site[/url] [url=http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Web.html]NASA TV[/url] [url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/]JPL MER2004[/url] [url=http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/statustextonly.html]Text feed[/url]
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The amount of solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth totals some 3.9 million exajoules a year.
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Was the program link to UC Berkley? The giant robot I saw was at MIT, and I don't think CalTech has a big focus on that topic.
"Some have met another fate. Let's put it this way... they no longer pose a threat to the US or its allies and friends." -- President Bush, State of the Union Address
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i still think for heavy movement, treads are best. they can handle any terrain, and you can have them conform to almost any grade. if you need to, you can made them spiked, and spikes would be more effctive on treads than on legs...you never lift treads, you use the spikes to grab and push, while on legs, you lift them, so half their value is lost.
legs might be very effective for fast exploration, however.
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I'll concede the point to you, soph. I would never use crawlers for construction, but I would consider it for exploration missions where treads may not be able to go. After all, it's better to go slower than average over smooth terrain with a crawler than to go even slower with a rover over rocky terrain. Good call.
"Some have met another fate. Let's put it this way... they no longer pose a threat to the US or its allies and friends." -- President Bush, State of the Union Address
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The crawler (pedapodal?) robot configuration appealed to me upon seeing that funny little multi-wheeled rover in operation in that field of rocks on Mars. I experienced an alternative mential picture: that of a multi-segmented, "centipede on steroids" crawling around and over those rocks on its own, to reach the hill-horizon (perhaps a kilometre distant) in order to view what was on the other side of the hill.
Due to its low c.g. and jointed configuration, utilizing whisker-like feelers, and inertial-platform base programmed guidance, it should enable it to reach the objective autonomously, then signal the remote presence operator to use the video camera to look around...etc.
Segments could be synchronized via wireless links rather than wires or fibreoptical cables; universal-joint-coupled to each other, and disconnectable and reconnectable for add-ons or damaged segmant replacement. Leg "muscles" might use replentishable compressed CO2 from solar-powered pumps; video camera units and manipulators to make each segment an atomaton. Navigation and optical sensing would comprise additional functions, of specialized head and tail segments.
A whole population of such robots could be landed and commanded for selected survey chores, and from more than one lander. The crawlers' mode of locomotion would resemble that of the equivalent insect, scaled up (say) 100X in the survey configuration, with their mobility, climbing and descending abilities enhanced by the reduced gravity. The survey robots need not return, but simply continue until they become damaged or simply worn out.
Power chores, such as drilling, digging, and bulldozing would be carried out by tracked vehicles in follow-on operations. Attachable/detachable bulldozer blades would enable narrow roads through the rock fields to be dozed to eg. drilling sites, for returning samples to lander/relaunch vehicles.
I would love to see something along these lines to be tested in conjunction with the simulation habitat programmes, by unpaid, retired engineering types withing the Mars Society.
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that would be great. for construction 'bots, i think treaded robots would do the job best. they are more sturdy, and they would have less parts to maintain. in construction work, that many legs would create a problem when the weight becomes greater.
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Has anyone else here read about NASA's research into building small spider bots that would be released onto the surface of Mars and could do double duty as both scientific research instruments and also act a planet wide communications network for crewed Mars missions? Here's the http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 … 2.htm]link.
To achieve the impossible you must attempt the absurd
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This remindsme very much of an idea a friend of mine had. He wanted to put little sensors in the trees around, um, Sydney, which would communicate via 802.11 or whatever. They'd collect light and weather data, and over time he could form a very accurate weather system. And so on.
The only difference is that these spiders are mobile. Which is cool, really. You should really check out the Real Player link on the JPL page (at the bottom of the link you provided). It's pretty neat.
I personally think these robots are... well, not good enough. For a good communications network, you'd have a little bit bigger robots, and they'd be more atonomous. You'd just tell them, ?Go north for two miles.?They'd go north, perhaps even using previously installed robots to find the optimal place to go, sit down, unfold a communications device, mount themselves to the ground (so that weather doesn't knok them over), and start transmitting. You could have hundreds of 802.11 repeaters all over Mars. In one mile sectors or whatever. It'd be neat. If you had overlapping sectors, say, four per sector, the overall system would be more stable, as you'd have backups and so on.
Some useful links while MER are active. [url=http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html]Offical site[/url] [url=http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Web.html]NASA TV[/url] [url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/]JPL MER2004[/url] [url=http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/statustextonly.html]Text feed[/url]
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The amount of solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth totals some 3.9 million exajoules a year.
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josh, you can do that. you can program a bot to find the best signal within a one mile radius, or a 10 mile radius. you could also send new programming via the signals. computer chips are very flexible. its amazing what you can program things to do.
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i dont think thats true. you could brace the vehicle as much as you want. you could also strengthen the legs with high tension cables, which can hold up huge amounts of weight. legs provide an advantage, in that they could extend and contract, so a robot with legs could go as high or low as it wants, and in many directions.
i would think that construction would require a variety of autonomous robots, but overall, it would be better than using people, because it would be safer, cheaper, and it would free people up for other jobs.
AND do it long before people can arrive!
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Has anyone else here read about NASA's research into building small spider bots that would be released onto the surface of Mars and could do double duty as both scientific research instruments and also act a planet wide communications network for crewed Mars missions? Here's the link.
Much obliged. I never should have stopped searching NASA/Jet Propulsion Lab, because...you never know....
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I just watched the movie "Minority Report" on video, and saw the small daddy-longlegs robots that supposedly would be used in 2034.
While I don't agree with the animators' concept (as being mistaken and/or too in advance of the time-period) I would like to suggest something that Mars Society members who are animators might do "in their spare time," ie:
Obtain ground scenes from the various Mars Landers, create realistic millipede-type robots and make them crawl around and over that rock-strewn terrain to reach the horizon as an objective--at least to start with. Vary the designs of the "bots" to show how different arrangements of segments, legs, feelers, sensors, etc., and semi-autonomous programs would have to function in order for them to reach their goal. Don't omit unsuccessful designs and failed goal attempts, and demonstrate the results of improvements. Show follow-on types of robots exploiting what the originals view, such as bulldozing, drilling, sample-and-return, etc.
The results of such a pre-working hardware animation effort, I believe, could create a lot of publicity...even perhaps an Academy Award...and lead eventually to the construction of successfully-working crawler models, for testing at the Mars habitat simulation site. Just a thought....
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