Salto has been one of our favorite robots since we got to know them for the first time In 2016 As a project from Ron Vitting Laboratory at the University of California in Berkeley. Palm size The robot jumped He moved from being able to sequence together with some open jumps to Masteryand Liarand Energy through obstacles coursesAnd It explodes from time to time.
The unusual thing in Salto is that it is still an active research project – as it is amazingly a long -time settlement for any robot, especially any clear practical applications immediately. But one of the original creators in Salto, Justin Yim (Who is now a professor at the University of Illinois), he found a place where Salto might be able to do what no other robot can: take samples of air in the water from the cold surface of the cold surface Ecsellados, moon to Saturn.
What makes Encyladus very interesting is that it is completely covered in a thick paper 40 km of ice, and under a 10 -kilometer global ocean. Inside this ocean it can be found – we do not know what. Dive into this buried ocean is a problem Robots may be able to solve them at some pointBut in the short term (ER), Encladus’ Antarctic It is home to more than a hundred Cryovolcanoes that emanate from water vapor columns and all other types of things directly to space, providing an opportunity to take samples for any robot that can approach enough for a sip.
“We can cover great distances, we can overcome obstacles, do not need an atmosphere, and we do not pollute anything.” Justin Yim, Illinois University
Yes, along with the other ancient saturated warrior Ethan Shaler (Now in JplThe financing was granted through Advanced NASA concepts (NIAC) program to convert Salto into a robot that can perform “exploration of legs across the column”, or in a moderately tense background, only, step. Leap will be a space version of Salto with some major adjustments that allow it to work in a frozen, attractive, low -gravitational environment.
Explore the difficult terrain in Encelados
The best we can make from the pictures taken during Cassinist Flybys, the surface of Encladus is not friendly to the traditional RoverCovered with hills and cracks, although we do not have much information about the exact properties of the terrain. There is also no atmosphere, which means that you cannot fly use it AerodynamicsAnd if you use Missiles To travel instead, you can have the risk of an exhaust that pollutes any samples you take.
“This does not leave us with a wide range of options to wrap, but it seems that it may be particularly appropriate to jump,” Yim tells us. “We can cover great distances, we can overcome obstacles, do not need an atmosphere, and we do not pollute anything.” And with Encyladus’ attractiveness Being only 1/80 of the Earth, the high salto jump on the ground will enable it to travel a hundred meters or so on Encladus, with samples through Cryovolcano columns.
The current version of Salto Do It requires an atmosphere, because it uses a pair of fans as small payments to control YAW and Roll. On a jump, these defenses will be replaced by a corner of the reaction wheels instead. To deal with the terrain, the robot may also need a foot that can deal with jumping from the surfaces (and landing on) consisting of granular ice molecules.
Leap is designed to jump with many ENCELADUS columns to collect samples, and the use of lunar terrain to direct subsequent jumps.NASA/Justin Yim
While the vision is constantly jumping, as it wore on the roof and through columns in a series of jumps that control it, you will soon get or later a bad drop, and the robot must be prepared for that. “I think one of the largest new technological developments will be multimedia mobility,” Yim explains. “Specifically, we would like to have a strong ability to deal with fall.” The interaction wheels in this can help in two ways: they provide some protection by behaving such as a shell around the robot, and they can also work as an ordinary husband of wheels, allowing the robot to wander on the ground a little. “With some of the maneuvers we are trying now, the reaction wheels may also be able to help the robot to back down in a straight position so that he can start jumping again after it ends,” says Yim.
The NIAC project is like this around the early stage as is the case with something like LEAP, and the task of Encladus is very far away as it was measured almost every scale-area, time, financing, policy, called whatever you want. In the long run, the idea with a jump is that it can be an addition to the concept of the task called Enceladus Orbilander. This spacecraft will be launched at a value of $ 2.5 billion at one time in the 1930s, and about ten years will spend on Saturn and enter the orbit around Encelados. After 1.5 years in orbit, the spacecraft was landing on the roof, and spent two additional years in the search for vital science. Yim explains that the drag itself will be fixed, “So this automatic navigation solution will be a great way to explore the expanded Encladus, and to really have a really long -distance coverage to collect water samples from different columns of areas of the surface.”
A jump was funded by studying the stage of 1 of nine months, starting in April. While the JPL team investigates ice reactions and tries to know how to prevent the robot from freezing to death, the University of Illinois Yim will upgrade Salto with the ability to obtain self. Frankly, it is interesting to believe that after many years, Salto may have finally found an application as it provides the best actual solution to solve this low science movement problem.
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