In a Texas laboratory, a team of engineers has materialized a concept that NASA investigated to Explore the craters of the moon: A ball -shaped robot incapable of dumping.
Roboball In his stage in NASA, mechanical engineer Robert Ambrose made several of his inventions come true: the Robonaut 2 humanoid robot or the Robotic robotic glove. But he failed to move forward a concept he had developed for the space agency in 2003.
The premise was simple: create a robot that could not pour. His idea was a perfect sphere capable of accessing places where wheels and legs were a risk. Roboball did not see the light until, two decades later, Ambrose guarded the students Rishi Jangale and Derek Pravecek For your doctorate at the University of Texas A&M.
A pendulum in an airbag. Roboball’s secret is not its spherical and soft housing, made of the same materials as an airbag, but the propulsion system inside. Composed of a pendulum and some engines, Roboball Rued in the desired direction by oscillating the pendulum to transfer impulse to the sphere.
One of the most innovative characteristics of the robot sphere is its ability to inflate and deflate, which allows you to alter your traction to adapt to different surfaces. In the tests of the researchers, Roboball has proven to be able to move through grass, gravel, sand and even water, reaching speeds of up to 32 km/h. Taking up is never a problem because it does not have a “right side.”
There are two prototypes. Roboball II has a diameter of 61 centimeters and is the laboratory version, used to adjust control algorithms and monitor the power of subsystems. Roboball III has an imposing diameter of 183 cm and is the commercial version, designed to carry useful loads such as sensors, cameras and sampling tools.
The jump from one to another has not been easy. As there is no literature on spherical robots of this size, the team faces new challenges every day. In Pravecek’s words: “If an engine fails or a sensor disconnects, you can’t simply open a panel. You have to disassemble the entire robot and rebuild it. It’s like an open heart surgery in a rolling ball.”
From the moon to earth. Despite the obstacles, Roboball’s performance is surprising, and his long -term objectives are ambitious. The team hopes that it can be deployed in a lunar landing module to explore the steep walls of cratersa place where “nothing would roll better than a ball,” says Ambrose.
But its potential is not limited to space. The team is also exploring land applications, especially in search and rescue missions. “Imagine a swarm of these balls deployed after a hurricane,” says Jangale. “They could map flooded areas, find survivors and bring essential data, all without risking human lives.”
Image | Texas A&M University
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