Light-Weight Mechatronics and Sensorics for Robotic Applications: A DLR Perspective

Abstract

Mobility and manipulability are dominant functions to be addressed to any planetary autonomous in-situ exploration.These capabilities will drive the design of the robotic elements to support these functions and to guarantee for mission success.Light-weight and powerful components and intelligent systems are therefore a prerequisite.DLR's Robotics and Mechatronics Institute since many years already has been following these major issues by developing highly integrated robots and many different kind of mechatronic systems, not only for space applications.This paper addresses DLR's most important robotic developments to be used for planetary mobile exploration, and tries to give a vision for their potential use in more advanced long-term future exploration missions.