PROMPT: A Small Walking Robot for Planetary Exploration

Abstract

Planetary exploration has already taken place for several years now using wheeled rovers. However, even though successful, these missions are limited to relatively flat and sedentary grounds. The areas explored are very interesting, but are of less importance from the point of view of searching for potential traces of life when compared to certain riskier zones. It is well understood that space agencies cannot afford the risk of using costly robots in these zones of uncommon geology. It is therefore anticipated that space exploration will evolve towards the use of small low-cost robots mobile enough to be used on rough terrains rich in geological information. This paper presents a small walking robot platform that was developed based on requirements provided by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).