To Boldly Go: Redefining Mobility with Thrust-Augmented Rocker-Bogie CanBots for Simulated Planetary Exploration

This research presents the first known example of a Thrust-Augmented Rocker Bogie (TARB). As a robust and passive mechanisms, the rocker bogie suspension system has seen widespread application in ground-based robotic planetary exploration rovers. However, with the first demonstration of a multirotor on Mars, there is clearly a need to expand the locomotion capacity for planetary rovers. The TARB builds on the existing flight heritage of the rocker rogie but also innovatively combines the system with a multirotor configuration. The combined homogeneous mobility solution can successfully demonstrate multimodal mobility including in terrestrial, aerial, and hybrid forms of locomotion. The prototype TARB developed for this research was constructed in the form of a CanBot. CanBots provide a means to test space-oriented rover technologies with earth-based analogues. Three prototype multimodal CanBots are described in this work, with each showing improvements in mobility and overall design robustness. Laboratory validation of the final TARB-equipped CanBot showed that it could utilize the rocker-bogie system to engage complicated terrestrial terrains while also maintaining the capacity to fly as an aerial vehicle. The laboratory testing also indicated that the CanBot could climb significantly steeper slopes when employing the TARB in a hybrid mode, successfully climbing slopes of 60 degrees, demonstrating static stability on inclines of up to 90 degrees, and successfully navigating along fully inverted surfaces.