To be able to conduct science investigations on highly sloped and challenging terrains, it is necessary to deploy science payloads to such locations and collect and process in situ samples. A tethered robotic platform has been developed that is capable of exploring very challenging terrain. The Axel rover is a symmetrical rover that is minimally actuated, can traverse arbitrary paths, and operate upside-down or right-side up. It can be deployed from a larger platform (rover, lander, or aerobot) or from a dual Axel configuration. Axel carries and manages its own tether, reducing damage to the tether during operations. Fundamentally, Axel is a two-wheeled rover with a symmetric body and a trailing link. Because the primary goal is minimal complexity, this version of the Axel rover uses only four primary actuators to control its wheels, tether, and a trailing link. A fifth actuator is used for level winding of tether onto Axel s spool.


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    Title :

    Axel Robotic Platform for Crater and Extreme Terrain Exploration




    Publication date :

    2012-02-01


    Type of media :

    Miscellaneous


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English







    Wheel design and tension analysis for the tethered axel rover on extreme terrain

    Abad-Manterola, Pablo / Burdick, Joel / Nesnas, Issa A.D. et al. | IEEE | 2009


    Axel and DuAxel rovers for the sustainable exploration of extreme terrains

    Nesnas, I. A. / Matthews, J. B. / Abad-Manterola, P. et al. | British Library Online Contents | 2012