Stanford Team Developing Spiked Robots To Explore Phobos

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Stanford Team Developing Spiked Robots To Explore Phobos

Posted by Unknown on Wednesday January 2, 2013 @01:58AM from the target-practice-for-doom dept.

cylonlover writes "Robot hedgehogs on the moons of Mars may sound like the title of a B-grade sci-fi movie, but that is what Stanford University is working on. Marco Pavone, an assistant professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and his team are developing spherical robots called 'hedgehogs' that are about half a meter (1.6 ft) wide and covered in spikes to better cope with rolling and hopping across the surface of the Martian moon Phobos with its very low gravity."

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"Robot hedgehogs on the moons of Mars" by DiamondGeezer · 2013-01-02 02:05 · Score: 2

I for one welcome our Martian robot hedgehog overlords.

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Tubby or not tubby. Fat is the question
1. Re:"Robot hedgehogs on the moons of Mars" by Ol+Biscuitbarrel · 2013-01-02 02:37 · Score: 1
  
  Courtesy of "cylonlover." BY YOUR COMMAND.
2. Re:"Robot hedgehogs on the moons of Mars" by drainbramage · 2013-01-02 08:29 · Score: 1
  
  Carefully.
  
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  No brain, no pain.
I don't get it by Dunbal · 2013-01-02 02:09 · Score: 4, Interesting

How does reducing the actual surface area in contact with the ground help it stay on a moon with low gravity? Or are the "spikes" expected to sink into the "dust" or something? What happens when this thing drives over a rock?

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Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
1. Re:I don't get it by DiamondGeezer · 2013-01-02 02:27 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  The problem with low gravity is low friction. So in order to drive across a body with low gravity, you need to increase the effective coefficient of friction (or increase the mass, which makes it more expensive to get there).
  
  In answer to your second question, you keep the speed down.
  
  On the other hand if you need to jump across something, then just a little boost will do it...
  
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  Tubby or not tubby. Fat is the question
2. Re:I don't get it by bws111 · 2013-01-02 03:19 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  The spikes aren't providing traction or propulsion, they are holding it above the surface. It moves by inertia. There are three spinning disks that they change the rotation of, and that change in rotation makes the thing 'fall over', and hence move.
3. Re:I don't get it by dotancohen · 2013-01-02 07:05 · Score: 2
  
  The spikes aren't providing traction or propulsion, they are holding it above the surface. It moves by inertia. There are three spinning disks that they change the rotation of, and that change in rotation makes the thing 'fall over', and hence move.
  Also, they keep the solar panels covering the thing off the ground. Solar panels don't last long when used as a wheel.
  
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  It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
4. Re:I don't get it by stoneoffire · 2013-01-02 07:35 · Score: 1
  
  Did you even read the article? I know, I know, blasphemy.....
5. Re:I don't get it by MichaelSmith · 2013-01-02 11:36 · Score: 1
  
  I think it is more that the surface of the probe is going to have fragile equipment on it like sensors and solar cells. They can't just let it roll around like that because this things will get wrecked. Rolling on the spikes means that the gear on the outside of the probe will be protected and in a posititon to examine the surface of the moon. Additionally there won't be much need to control attitide. Attitide control can be tricky on a small moon because it may not be obvious which way is "down".
  
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  http://michaelsmith.id.au
6. Re:I don't get it by shaitand · 2013-01-02 16:15 · Score: 1
  
  You should tell them. Give them a stern warning about the consequences of giving their project less thought than a Slashdot AC again!
Infocom by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-02 02:26 · Score: 4, Funny

Should fit in well with the Leather Godesses.
Gateway To Hell Option? by FlamingAtheist · 2013-01-02 02:27 · Score: 1

Corporate sponsorship is by Union Aerospace Corporation, what could possibly go wrong....

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If you must keep groaning, please try to do it in a rhythm I can dance to
1. Re:Gateway To Hell Option? by egr · 2013-01-02 02:42 · Score: 1
  
  Not to worry! If anything goes wrong they'll send a squad of marines, and leave one guy with a pistol to guard the hangar outside just in case.
Already Saw The Movie by CanHasDIY · 2013-01-02 02:55 · Score: 1

spherical robots... that are about half a meter (1.6 ft) wide and covered in spikes
The Tall Man approves!

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An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Waste of money. by dlmarti · 2013-01-02 03:00 · Score: 1

Given that Phobos is most likely a captured body, this does not seem like a good return on the investment.
1. Re:Waste of money. by vlm · 2013-01-02 03:03 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Given that Phobos is most likely a captured body, this does not seem like a good return on the investment.
  Why, do they expect to be charged with receipt of stolen property?
  
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  "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
2. Re:Waste of money. by surd1618 · 2013-01-02 03:26 · Score: 1
  
  Phobos is estimated to be ~30% empty space. There might be cavities inside that could be filled with SP breathable mix and inhabited by people for as long as low gravity allows.
3. Re:Waste of money. by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-02 04:34 · Score: 1
  
  Given that Phobos appears to be made of some of the same stuff Mars is made of, and has a circular equatorial orbit around a planet with a thin atmosphere, the capture theory seems unlikely. But if it were captured, figuring out how the heck that happened would give us a lot of insight into the early solar system.
4. Re:Waste of money. by dlmarti · 2013-01-02 05:12 · Score: 1
  
  No, but I would hope there would be a better use of our very limited NASA budget.
Bad Shipment by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-02 03:05 · Score: 1

Instead of our shipment of spiky ball robots, we got these useless crates of chainsaws... What the hell do we need chainsaws on mars for?!
Comment removed by account_deleted · 2013-01-02 03:31 · Score: 1

Comment removed based on user account deletion
KINO's big brother? by ArhcAngel · 2013-01-02 03:32 · Score: 1

So we can't make a levitating version so we go big and spiky?

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"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
I Misread the Title as... by AdamStarks · 2013-01-02 03:36 · Score: 1

"Stanford Team Developing Spiked Robots To Explore Robots"
My initial reaction was "Poor robots :("
Spiked... by flyingfsck · 2013-01-02 04:24 · Score: 1

So how do they spike a robot? Do they add some meth to the hydrazine? Thank you, I'll be here all week...

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You spelled "Hobos" wrong. by wiedzmin · 2013-01-02 04:28 · Score: 1

You spelled "Hobos" wrong.

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Reminescent design by Ceriel+Nosforit · 2013-01-02 05:05 · Score: 1

The design looks a lot like something out of the account of a credible individual in the UK who has suffered from an Alien Abduction experience. He describes spheres with much fewer feet than the NASA version, and how they pivoted and rolled to make a path of animal-like foot prints.
Source; the following remarkable series:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke's_Mysterious_World#U.F.O.s_-_4_November_1980

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All rites reversed 2010
1. Re:Reminescent design by Ceriel+Nosforit · 2013-01-02 05:09 · Score: 1
  
  Sorry, replying to my own post, but I decided to take a screenshot from the source I mentioned:
  http://i.imgur.com/myOi3.jpg
  
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  All rites reversed 2010
He's the fastest thing alive... by PhyrexStrike · 2013-01-02 05:54 · Score: 1

The real questions are: are they blue? and, can they go fast?
Sounds like "Willis" from Red Planet by SpaceManFlip · 2013-01-02 06:29 · Score: 2

Robert Heinlein's ideas are once again prophetic. In the book Red Planet the adventuresome protagonist has a pet/friend Martian named Willis who is a spherical native animal that mostly moves by rolling and bouncing along. The "bouncer" creatures also extended appendages for movement or sensing things (spikes?).
1. Re:Sounds like "Willis" from Red Planet by MichaelSmith · 2013-01-02 11:45 · Score: 1
  
  More like 90% of the people designing space vehicles these days grew up on Heinlein juveniles.
  
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  http://michaelsmith.id.au