Steerable High-Jumping Tensegrity Robot for Space Exploration

The growing interest in exploring other planets calls for innovative robotic systems capable of deploying to and traversing challenging space environments. While wheeled rovers have traditionally fulfilled this role, they face limitations, including configuration dependence (e.g., requiring an upright orientation), susceptibility to impacts, and difficulty overcoming obstacles larger than their wheel radius. Tensegrity-based robotics presents a promising alternative for future rovers. These lightweight, compliant structures offer compactability, adjustable stiffness, and the ability to absorb impacts without damage. Moreover, their unique form factor naturally protects scientific payloads. Recent research has explored tensegrity robots for rolling-based locomotion, with increasing interest in leveraging their structures for jumping-based movement. However, achieving hardware capable of high jumps greater than the robot’s body length and directional jumping control for steerable jumping remains a challenge. This work introduces a tensegrity robot that utilizes structural deformation for jumping locomotion. Through first-principles analyses, simulations, lab experiments, and field tests in a planetary analog environment, we demonstrate a robot capable of vertical jumps of 1.18m (1.93 body lengths), directional jumps covering horizontal distances up to 0.59m (0.97 body lengths), and surviving falls from heights of 21.5m (35.2 body lengths). The robot can also reduce its occupied volume by more than 4x without sustaining damage. Results herein highlight the potential of jumping tensegrity robots as robust, versatile platforms for next-generation space exploration.