Semi-Autonomous Telescience System for Planetary Exploration Rover

Abstract

In recent years, many researchers have extensively studied and developed unmanned mobile robots for surface exploration of the moon or planets. A planetary rover is required to travel safely over a long distance for many days in unfamiliar terrain and to collect samples such as sands, stones, rocks, etc. This paper describes a telescience method by a rover-equipped manipulator for lunar or planetary rover missions. The investigated telescience strategy of capturing scientific samples is to control the on-board manipulator as automatically as possible. An experimental rover system has been developed to demonstrate the strategy, which derives the required autonomous functions in unknown natural environments and the desirable man-machine interface.