SpaceBok robot will jump on the studied planets (3 photos + video)

Space Exploration provides researchsurfaces of planets, their natural satellites and asteroids with a rough surface and low gravity. In such conditions, the most optimal way of movement is jumping. The European Space Agency (ESA) is testing a SpaceBok robot that uses just such an unusual method of movement.

Developers on such an idea pushed the factthat while traveling on the surface of the moon, where gravity is 6 times less than that of the earth, astronauts unconsciously moved by jumping. The jump phase involves finding the object in flight. Management at this time, the robot requires a large computing power, which led to the inaccessibility of such a method in the recent past.

Supposed to be on the surface of the moon spaceboxwill be able to jump to a height of two meters. Stabilization of the flight and the moment of landing on the surface of the robot is assigned to a special device - the "reaction wheel". The legs-legs of the SpaceBok robot are equipped with springs that compensate for a strike on landing and accumulate energy for a jump. This approach reduces energy consumption when moving the robot.

Special test tests when the robotplaced on its side, and it slid on a smooth surface, imitated weightlessness in two dimensions. The experimenters could even play Space Pok with SpaceBok.

The next stage of testing will take place in close to real conditions of operation, on difficult terrain.

Source: ESA