Hyperion, robot explorer of planets

2001/08/08 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Astrofisika

The bike you can see in the photo is not the last prototype they have presented for next year's Tour. Designed at the Institute of Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University, it is the first version of robots to be used in the future to explore the land of planets and moons. This bike shaped robot features photovoltaic panels to convert solar energy into electric power and charge batteries.

In July, the Hyperion robot was tested on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic. In the first experiment he made a 6.1-kilometer course on the ground near the Haughton crater. This NASA crater is already being studied, which is similar to the land of Mars. 95% of the tour was carried out without receiving any external order, while the rest was done under remote control.

According to the researchers, the results were very good. Although it took longer than expected to overcome the most difficult parts, in the easiest parts it easily gained the time lost ahead. In addition, they stressed that both at the beginning and at the end the battery was completely full. In view of these good results, the second attempt was assigned a longer and more difficult route to detect problems to solve. Among them, they found it difficult to follow the direction of the Sun.

The next step is therefore to solve these problems and prepare the robot so that it can be used on other planets and moons, as this prototype is designed for Earth.