1A2-L09 Mobility Performance of Ciliary Micro-Hopping Locomotion for an Asteroid Exploration Robot : Micro-Gravity Experiments with an Air Floating Test Bed(Space Engineering and Robotics and Mechatronics(1))

Abstract

Development of a locomotion mechanism under micro-gravity is a key technology for an asteroid exploration robot in future missions. As one of the locomotion mechanisms, we have proposed a ciliary micro-hopping locomotion mechanism. The proposed mechanism is driven by an eccentric motor, and the elastic cilia enable a robot to move over an asteroid surface under micro-gravity. In this paper, we deliver fundamental locomotion characteristics of the ciliary micro-hopping mechanism based on indoor micro-gravity experiments using an air floating test bed.