Hyperion: Sun-Thirsty Space Robot By Leonard David Senior Space Writer posted: 07:00 am ET 14 May 2001 ET
hyperion_robotics_010510
PRINCETON, N.J. -- They walk, crawl, roll and hop. Now a robot has been built that craves sunshine.
Enter the energy-hungry workhorse, Hyperion. It is the latest in a growing menagerie of mechanistic marvels cranked out by experts at Carnegie Mellon Universitys Robotics Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
In a few months, the sunlight-seeking Hyperion is to be set loose on
There is mostly good news to report in the space robotics business, said William "Red" Whittaker, Fredkin Research Professor at Carnegie Mellons Field Robotics Center.
There is no question about the notion that robots are the near-term explorers. -- William Whittaker, Fredkin Research Professor at Carnegie Mellons Field Robotics Center
On one hand, the failure in late 1999 of NASAs
Mars Polar Lander short-circuited any flexing of the crafts mechanical arm. However, the International Space Station (ISS) is quickly becoming a premier site for showing off robotic manipulators, Whittaker said.
The newly installed
Canadian-built arm on the ISS "is significant in the robotics trade, representing the single largest capitalization and purchase of robotics for space development," Whittaker said. Japans robot arm, to be operated from the Japanese experiment module, once attached to the ISS, is a major step forward as well, he said.
Robot scans rocks to sort out meteorites. Credit: Robotics Institute
Future Mars rovers, Whittaker said, are to be increasingly imbued with the robotic smarts and tools to scoop, dig, drill and do on-the-spot analyses on the Red Planet, as well as snag and stuff select surface samples for express shipment back to Earth.
Times are changing from shoebox-sized
rovers that travel just 330 feet (100 meters) over 100 days to mega-class robots that can traverse many thousands of miles (kilometers) across a planet or Moon, Whittaker said. The robotic community has recently been given the green light to count on the availability of nuclear power sources to energize new breeds of mechanical explorers, he said.
"Robotics is a going game and a growing game. Theres no going back," Whittaker said.
Clock-around-the-rock
Robot builders at Carnegie Mellon are ready to prototype the Hyperion. The objective of the work is to build a vehicle that is "sun-cognizant" -- a robot able to dodge shadows, seek sunlight and drive itself along sun-synchronous routes, while carrying out exploration duties.
"Its our big idea of the year," Whittaker said.
Hyperion weighs on the order of 155 pounds (70 kilograms), with sensors, electronics and computing payload adding 110 pounds (50 kilograms). Having a wheelbase of some 7 feet by 7 feet (2 meters by 2 meters), Hyperion also sports a "shark fin" of solar cells -- a vertically mounted solar panel that churns out needed power.
advertisement
