Intelligent explorer with smart manipulator and drilling mechanism for lunar or planetary exploration

Unmanned deep space explorations have received a lot of attention in recent years. Some missions to land safely and explore on the surface of the moon or other planets are proposed and planned in the world. In Japan, lunar lander-rover missions have been earnestly studied. In these missions, it is required to perform sampling, conduct in-situ analysis of geological samples and deploy devices for measurement and observation. Many researchers have studied and developed sample acquisition systems and driller or corer systems. Recently deep drillers or penetrating systems have been required to obtain deep data for subsurface exploration. In lunar or planetary mission, it is needed to excavate the regolith layer, which covers the lunar surface, in depth of several meters. Some suggestions for drilling on the lunar surface have already been made. However, there are few schemes that can satisfy the requirement. This paper, to begin with, describes lunar or planetary mission scenarios and scientific requirements. A detailed surface and subsurface exploration by a mobile explorer is presented. Then a smart manipulator with new actuators to collect samples is proposed. The proposed manipulator is actuated by ultra-sonic motors, which can lead to a light-weight system with low-power consumption. The developed manipulator has an end-effecter to collect regolith, pick up stones, etc. The effectiveness of the developed smart manipulator is shown by some experiments. This paper also proposes a mole-like robot which is maneuverable in regolith. A new mechanism to move forward in the soil is described. The drilling function is studied by analyses and some experiments. The experimental results show the feasibility of the proposed robot.