[Tyler]

Next Giant Leap pursues Google Lunar X Prize
     


   

The Robots Podcast's John Payne sent a report
on the Google
Lunar X Prize team Next Giant Leap. It is planning something
different from the rovers planned by most of the other teams, such as that led
by Red Whittaker of
CMU.  Instead of rolling across the surface for the required 500
meters, they intend to hop over it, with a platform riding on four
thrusters.  Stabilizing such a device, so that it remains level
throughout its flight and goes where it is supposed to, is no mean
trick.  Designing, on Earth, the technology to do so autonomously in the
airless, low-gravity environment of the Moon is a challenge.  The
guidance, navigation, and control algorithms to accomplish these tasks
are developed at Draper
Laboratory and tested on a prototype named Talaris.
Developed with the
help of MIT students and under the watchful eye of Bobby
Cohanim, Talaris uses ducted fans in an arrangement similar to a
quadrotor to compensate for the difference in gravity between Earth and
Moon. More information after the jump.
   

http://robots.net/article/3103.html