Projects Profile
Project Title
Exploration of a Novel Wheeled-legged Robot with Compliant Metamorphic Structure for Lunar Exploration
Partnership
Prof Jian S Dai, King’s College London
Prof Xilun Ding, Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics
Project Aim
This project is to strengthen the bilateral collaboration in developing a novel robotics for lunar exploration with a novel wheeled-legged changeable structure and in transferring the knowledge of this development. The project will also implement a substantial market research, carry out the preliminary assessment on the market needs, competitive advantages of the technology, as well as explore the technology commercialisation potential and routes of the reconfigurability, adaptability, reliability and controllability of this space compliant metamorphic mechanism for the lunar exploration robot.
Inspiration for the projects
In recent years, space exploration gained new momentum across the world. After the successful launch of the manned spaceships, China has now firmly set her eye on the Moon exploration which demanded new technologies to be developed. Space exploration place stringent restrictions on technology and system used, such as weight, strength, and functionality. Light weight, highly fold ability and strength of mechanics are the essential requirement for lunar exploration robotics.
Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics (BUAA) has recently engaged in the development of a wheel-legged robot for this application. This type of robots has the ability of changing the structure and has a great potential in the space exploration. At King’s group, substantial study has been carried out towards compliant metamorphic mechanisms over the past decade, which achieved high foldability and adaptibility which is highly disearable for use in space exploration.
In this project King’s experts in metamorphic structure design and BUAA’s expertise in space exploration robotics development are joining forces to design and develop a new generation wheel-legged robotics for space exploration, initially aiming at Chinese Lunar exploration use. The robotics systems may also be modified to address other industry applications in harsh environment conditions such as nuclear and deep see oil exploration.
Commercial Potential and Further Development
The project will produce commercial prototype of space exploration robotic system incooperating metamorphic mechanisms. The new robot integrates both wheel and leg locomotion system that mimics the structure of insects and mammals. Its reconfigurable body structure in the new design makes it very agile, and will be able to meet the needs of complicated environment requirements for public safety, planetary exploration and exploitation of space application
The project is primarily aiming at addressing the technology need for lunar exploration use in the first instance, and has attracted substantial attentions from Chinese Space Agency. It could also lead to open up other new opportunities for commercial usage of the new robotics system in other harsh environmental conditions, e.g. neuclear industry and deep see oil exploration, etc.
