Energy Dissipation during Surface Interaction of an Underactuated Robot for Planetary Exploration

Łukasz Wiśniewski, Jerzy Grygorczuk, Paweł Zajko, Mateusz Przerwa, Gordon Wasilewski, Joanna Gurgurewicz and Daniel Mège
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Łukasz Wiśniewski: Astronika Sp. z o.o., Bartycka 18, 00-716 Warsaw, Poland
Jerzy Grygorczuk: Astronika Sp. z o.o., Bartycka 18, 00-716 Warsaw, Poland
Paweł Zajko: Astronika Sp. z o.o., Bartycka 18, 00-716 Warsaw, Poland
Mateusz Przerwa: Astronika Sp. z o.o., Bartycka 18, 00-716 Warsaw, Poland
Gordon Wasilewski: Astronika Sp. z o.o., Bartycka 18, 00-716 Warsaw, Poland
Joanna Gurgurewicz: Centrum Badań Kosmicznych, Polskiej Akademii Nauk (CBK PAN), Bartycka 18A, 00-716 Warsaw, Poland
Daniel Mège: Centrum Badań Kosmicznych, Polskiej Akademii Nauk (CBK PAN), Bartycka 18A, 00-716 Warsaw, Poland

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 14, 1-30

Abstract: The article summarizes research on essential contributors to energy dissipation in an actuator for an exemplary planetary exploration hopping robot. It was demonstrated that contact dynamics could vary significantly depending on the surface type. As a result, regolith is a significant uncertainty factor to the control loop and plays a significant contribution in the control system development of future planetary exploration robots. The actual prototype of the actuating mechanism was tested on a reference surface and then compared with various surfaces (i.e., Syar, quartz sand, expanded clay, and quartz aggregate) to estimate the dissipation of the energy in the initial phase of hopping. Test outcomes are compared with multibody analysis. The research enhances trajectory planning and adaptive control of future hopping robots by determining three significant types of energy losses in the system and, most importantly, determining energy dissipation coefficients in contact with the various surfaces (i.e., from 4% to 53% depending on the surface type). The actual step-by-step methodology is proposed to analyze energy dissipation aspects for a limited number of runs, as it is a case for space systems.

Keywords: in-situ space exploration; terrain mobility; energy dissipation; surface contact dynamics; underactuated robot; regolith interaction; energy accumulation; scalable actuator (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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