“Stretch robot legs”… ‘Richbot’, a spider robot that searches for life in caves on Mars < Industry < Economy < Text of article

Robotics engineers use robots to explore and study harsh environments that are difficult for humans to access. Additionally, when designing robots suited to each environment, we gain a lot of inspiration from living creatures in the natural world, including insects, reptiles, fish, and mammals. ‘ReachBot’, developed by a Stanford University research team, was also developed in that way. The stage of activity for this robot, which imitates a spider, is a cave on an alien planet.

Stanford University in the U.S. announced that Professor Marco Pavone’s Biomimetics Lab team in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics recently developed the Mars exploration robot ‘Richbot’ and published the relevant results in the international academic journal ‘Science Robotics’. Richbot, developed with support from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), is a mini robot dedicated to exploring Mars caves that imitates the ‘Harvestman spider’, which has abnormally long legs.

According to the research team, there are numerous vertical caves on Mars created by past volcanic activity. There are about 1,000 that NASA has officially confirmed. However, its true nature has never been revealed to the public. This is because it is difficult to even approach the vertical cave, let alone look into it, with the existing exploration rover, which is large and dull and cannot properly pass over small rocks or shallow sand dunes.

The toaster-sized Richbot borrowed the spider’s ability to move freely even in dark caves to turn this impossible into possible. The key is the four legs that extend in length like a boom microphone. The name Richbot also comes from the long reach of its legs. “At the end of each leg is an 80×63×36 mm electric gripper with three fingers,” said Stephanie Newdick, a doctoral student on the research team. “It is possible to move stably by moving alternately,” he explained.

Richbot also has autonomous movement functions. Artificial intelligence (AI) analyzes the information obtained from the high-resolution camera and lidar sensor built into the body and recognizes the shape of the surface in units of 1 to 2 mm, so it determines which point to hold on to and the length and tension of each leg. You can move while deciding for yourself whether to keep it or not. In the case of energy required for driving, a plan is being considered to supply the energy from a rover in order to miniaturize it, which is essential for cave exploration. The rover moves to the cave entrance and lowers the Richbot, which is connected by wires, down into the cave.

Richbot demonstrated its capabilities through a recent field demonstration conducted in a lava tube in California’s Mojave Desert. Although the demonstration was conducted with one leg rather than a complete body, it received a passing grade in terms of terrain recognition as well as the firm grip of the gripper that grips the surface.

Accordingly, the research team believes that Richbot can be a form factor that bridges the gap between existing exploration robots, which are polarized into large and small. Professor Pavone said, “Large robots have a long operating period, but have limitations in exploring narrow or complex terrain, and small robots are exactly the opposite.” He added, “Richbot has almost no restrictions on exploration terrain and has a long operating time using external power. “It has the best of both worlds,” he said.

NASA’s goal is to upgrade Richbot and deploy it on Mars. At this time, you may witness a historic day of encountering the extraterrestrial life form you have been looking for. This is because astrobiologists select lava tubes as the number one place where past or currently surviving Martian microorganisms will be discovered.

In this paper, the research team also pointed out that Earth’s microorganisms thrive even in deep lava tubes that do not receive a trace of light, and it is highly probable that conditions such as liquid water, atmosphere, and climate were similar to those of Earth when lava tubes were formed on Mars. This suggests that microorganisms may be living in deep caves that are unaffected by extreme temperature changes. Even if it fails to find life, Richbot’s challenge could lead to groundbreaking progress in understanding Mars more accurately from a geological perspective.

Professor Pavone said, “20 years ago, humanity’s goal was to land a robot on Mars, but thanks to the advancement of science and technology, we are now sending Richbot to look into the underground of Mars,” adding, “We are going to see places that have never been seen before.” “If you can see it, you can learn more,” he said.