MSGID: 1:317/3 641149e8   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Mix-and-match kit could enable astronauts to build a menagerie of lunar   
   exploration bots    
    Robotic parts could be assembled into nimble spider bots for exploring   
   lava tubes or heavy-duty elephant bots for transporting solar panels.    
      
     Date:   
         March 14, 2023   
     Source:   
         Massachusetts Institute of Technology   
     Summary:   
         The Walking Oligomeric Robotic Mobility System, or WORMS, is   
         a reconfigurable, modular, multiagent robotics architecture   
         for extreme lunar terrain mobility. The system could be used   
         to assemble autonomous worm-like parts into larger biomimetic   
         robots that could explore lava tubes, steep slopes, and the moon's   
         permanently shadowed regions.   
      
      
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   FULL STORY   
   ==========================================================================   
   When astronauts begin to build a permanent base on the moon, as NASA plans   
   to do in the coming years, they'll need help. Robots could potentially   
   do the heavy lifting by laying cables, deploying solar panels, erecting   
   communications towers, and building habitats. But if each robot is   
   designed for a specific action or task, a moon base could become overrun   
   by a zoo of machines, each with its own unique parts and protocols.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   To avoid a bottleneck of bots, a team of MIT engineers is designing a kit   
   of universal robotic parts that an astronaut could easily mix and match   
   to rapidly configure different robot "species" to fit various missions   
   on the moon. Once a mission is completed, a robot can be disassembled   
   and its parts used to configure a new robot to meet a different task.   
      
   The team calls the system WORMS, for the Walking Oligomeric Robotic   
   Mobility System. The system's parts include worm-inspired robotic limbs   
   that an astronaut can easily snap onto a base, and that work together as   
   a walking robot. Depending on the mission, parts can be configured to   
   build, for instance, large "pack" bots capable of carrying heavy solar   
   panels up a hill.   
      
   The same parts could be reconfigured into six-legged spider bots that   
   can be lowered into a lava tube to drill for frozen water.   
      
   "You could imagine a shed on the moon with shelves of worms," says team   
   leader George Lordos, a PhD candidate and graduate instructor in MIT's   
   Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro), in reference to   
   the independent, articulated robots that carry their own motors, sensors,   
   computer, and battery.   
      
   "Astronauts could go into the shed, pick the worms they need, along with   
   the right shoes, body, sensors and tools, and they could snap everything   
   together, then disassemble it to make a new one. The design is flexible,   
   sustainable, and cost-effective."  Lordos' team has built and demonstrated   
   a six-legged WORMS robot. Last week, they presented their results at   
   IEEE's Aerospace Conference, where they also received the conference's   
   Best Paper Award.   
      
   MIT team members include Michael J. Brown, Kir Latyshev, Aileen Liao,   
   Sharmi Shah, Cesar Meza, Brooke Bensche, Cynthia Cao, Yang Chen,   
   Alex S. Miller, Aditya Mehrotra, Jacob Rodriguez, Anna Mokkapati,   
   Tomas Cantu, Katherina Sapozhnikov, Jessica Rutledge, David Trumper,   
   Sangbae Kim, Olivier de Weck, Jeffrey Hoffman, along with Aleks Siemenn,   
   Cormac O'Neill, Diego Rivero, Fiona Lin, Hanfei Cui, Isabella Golemme,   
   John Zhang, Jolie Bercow, Prajwal Mahesh, Stephanie Howe, and Zeyad   
   Al Awwad, as well as Chiara Rissola of Carnegie Mellon University and   
   Wendell Chun of the University of Denver.   
      
   Animal instincts WORMS was conceived in 2022 as an answer to NASA's   
   Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge --   
   an annual competition for university students to design, develop, and   
   demonstrate a game-changing idea. In 2022, NASA challenged students to   
   develop robotic systems that can move across extreme terrain, without   
   the use of wheels.   
      
   A team from MIT's Space Resources Workshop took up the challenge, aiming   
   specifically for a lunar robot design that could navigate the extreme   
   terrain of the moon's South Pole -- a landscape that is marked by thick,   
   fluffy dust; steep, rocky slopes; and deep lava tubes. The environment   
   also hosts "permanently shadowed" regions that could contain frozen water,   
   which, if accessible, would be essential for sustaining astronauts.   
      
   As they mulled over ways to navigate the moon's polar terrain, the   
   students took inspiration from animals. In their initial brainstorming,   
   they noted certain animals could conceptually be suited to certain   
   missions: A spider could drop down and explore a lava tube, a line of   
   elephants could carry heavy equipment while supporting each other down   
   a steep slope, and a goat, tethered to an ox, could help lead the larger   
   animal up the side of a hill as it transports an array of solar panels.   
      
   "As we were thinking of these animal inspirations, we realized that one   
   of the simplest animals, the worm, makes similar movements as an arm, or   
   a leg, or a backbone, or a tail," says deputy team leader and AeroAstro   
   graduate student Michael Brown. "And then the lightbulb went off: We could   
   build all these animal-inspired robots using worm-like appendages.'"   
   Snap on, snap off Lordos, who is of Greek descent, helped coin WORMS,   
   and chose the letter "O" to stand for "oligomeric," which in Greek   
   signifies "a few parts."  "Our idea was that, with just a few parts,   
   combined in different ways, you could mix and match and get all these   
   different robots," says AeroAstro undergraduate Brooke Bensche.   
      
   The system's main parts include the appendage, or worm, which can be   
   attached to a body, or chassis, via a "universal interface block" that   
   snaps the two parts together through a twist-and-lock mechanism. The   
   parts can be disconnected with a small tool that releases the block's   
   spring-loaded pins.   
      
   Appendages and bodies can also snap into accessories such as a "shoe,"   
   which the team engineered in the shape of a wok, and a LiDAR system that   
   can map the surroundings to help a robot navigate.   
      
   "In future iterations we hope to add more snap-on sensors and tools, such   
   as winches, balance sensors, and drills," says AeroAstro undergraduate   
   Jacob Rodriguez.   
      
   The team developed software that can be tailored to coordinate multiple   
   appendages. As a proof of concept, the team built a six-legged robot   
   about the size of a go-cart. In the lab, they showed that once assembled,   
   the robot's independent limbs worked to walk over level ground. The team   
   also showed that they could quickly assemble and disassemble the robot   
   in the field, on a desert site in California.   
      
   In its first generation, each WORMS appendage measures about 1 meter   
   long and weighs about 20 pounds. In the moon's gravity, which is about   
   one-sixth that of Earth's, each limb would weigh about 3 pounds, which   
   an astronaut could easily handle to build or disassemble a robot in the   
   field. The team has planned out the specs for a larger generation with   
   longer and slightly heavier appendages.   
      
   These bigger parts could be snapped together to build "pack" bots,   
   capable of transporting heavy payloads.   
      
   "There are many buzz words that are used to describe effective systems   
   for future space exploration: modular, reconfigurable, adaptable,   
   flexible, cross- cutting, et cetera," says Kevin Kempton, an engineer   
   at NASA's Langley Research Center, who served as a judge for the 2022   
   BIG Idea Challenge. "The MIT WORMS concept incorporates all these   
   qualities and more."  This research was supported, in part, by NASA,   
   MIT, the Massachusetts Space Grant, the National Science Foundation,   
   and the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation.   
      
   Video: https://youtu.be/U72lmSXEVkM   
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Space_&_Time   
                   # Moon # Space_Exploration # NASA   
             o Matter_&_Energy   
                   # Robotics_Research # Engineering #   
                   Engineering_and_Construction   
             o Computers_&_Math   
                   # Robotics # Artificial_Intelligence # Hacking   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Robotic_surgery o Industrial_robot o Titan_(moon) o Moon o   
             Lunar_space_elevator o Robot o Humanoid_robot o Computer_worm   
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Story Source: Materials provided by   
   Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology. Original written by Jennifer   
   Chu. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Related Multimedia:   
       * Engineers_are_designing_a_kit_of_universal_robotic_parts_that_an   
         astronaut_could_easily_mix_and_match_to_build_different_robots   
   ==========================================================================   
      
      
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/03/230314205349.htm   
      
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