Micro Planetary Rover Micro 5

Abstract

This paper describes a newly developed rover with small size, light-weight, low power consumption. In recent years, many researchers have extensively studied and developed unmanned mobile robots for surface exploration of the moon or planets. A lunar or planetary rover is required to travel safely over a long distance for many days in unfamiliar terrain. This paper presents scientific signification, requirements, and technology of a lunar or planetary rover. This paper proposes a new mobility system, which has four wheels and one supported wheel. This novel suspension system is a simple and light mechanism like a four-wheeled rover and provides a high degree of mobility like a six-wheeled rover. The performance of the developed rover is shown by some experiments.