Keyword: Unmanned ground vehicles

Application Briefs: Motion Control
OPTIMISM, the full-scale engineering model of Perseverance, is helping NASA assess the risk of potential driving hazards on Mars.
Feature Image
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
A new robot developed by Caltech researchers LEO carves out a new type of locomotion somewhere between walking and flying.
Feature Image
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
UAVs can land on moving unmanned ground vehicles without GPS.
Feature Image
Application Briefs: Aerospace
A mobile robot will go to the South Pole of the Moon — with help from radiation-hardened avionics.
Feature Image
Briefs: Connectivity
The multi-legged robots are capable of maneuvering in challenging environments.
Feature Image
Application Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Ewellix (Gothenburg, Sweden) has developed a planetary roller screw that's now on Mars.
Feature Image
Articles: Materials
Perseverance is the first leg of a round trip to Mars.
Feature Image
Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control
NASA-funded research by Clemson University scientists could lead to the creation of lighter, faster-charging batteries suitable for powering a spacesuit or even a Mars rover.
Feature Image
Application Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
See how one company reached out to NASA with an offer to develop a custom sensor for the Mars 2020 mission rover.
Feature Image
Briefs: Motion Control
Complex locomotion techniques enable the rover to climb hills covered with soft granular material.
Feature Image
Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control
Tech Briefs spoke with NASA’s Keith Comeaux, Deputy Project Chief Engineer, to learn more about the helicopter heading to Mars.
Feature Image
Articles: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Perseverance will have the ability to land in more challenging terrain than Curiosity, making more rugged sites eligible as safe landing candidates.
Feature Image
Briefs: Materials
These composites could improve how unmanned vehicles dissipate energy.
Feature Image
Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Read our special series on the Mars 2020 mission, featuring interviews with NASA experts and designers of the Perseverance rover.
Feature Image
Briefs: Imaging
An upgraded mini robot can leap over obstacles with ease.
Feature Image
Articles: Electronics & Computers

Smarter, better, faster, less expensive — those words are the mantra of today’s global economy. As organizations seek to streamline operations and do more with less, they...

Feature Image
INSIDER: Motion Control

Ants are able to use polarized light and ultraviolet radiation to locate themselves in space. AntBot mimics this ability to explore its environment randomly and go home automatically, without GPS or...

Feature Image
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control

A technique was developed to quickly teach robots novel traversal behaviors with minimal human oversight. The technique allows mobile robot platforms to navigate autonomously in...

Feature Image
Application Briefs: Aerospace
Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH
www.wpafb.af.mil/afrl

Mars rovers are sophisticated, multi-instrumented pieces of equipment that travel...

Feature Image
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Today's crop breeders are trying to boost yields while preparing plants to withstand severe weather and changing climates. To succeed, they must locate the genes for high-yielding, hardy traits in crop...

Feature Image
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control

An industrial-class excavator was developed for use on the Moon and perhaps on Mars. The model mobility platform uses Ackerman Steering with active drives on all six...

Feature Image
Articles: Communications

Technology often takes circuitous paths. A magnetron developed for precision bombing during World War II led to the microwave oven, and a battery-powered drill created for collecting...

Feature Image
Briefs: Information Technology
Program Determines When MRO Observations Span More Than One Spacecraft Sequencing Period

Previously, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) did not allow observations to go beyond the end of a planning period. However, opportunities for observing the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover occur close enough to these boundaries to require the...

Who's Who: Materials

David Blake developed the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) X-ray diffraction instrument that is currently deployed on the Mars Science Laboratory rover...

Feature Image
Briefs: Aerospace
Mars Science Laboratory Flight Software

Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) flight software is designed to control all onboard functions of the flight system, consisting of three primary stages — cruise, entry-descent-landing (EDL), and rover — for the three mission phases. These three stages have common as well as distinct mission requirements...

Briefs: Software

The Robot Sequencing and Visualization Program (RSVP) is being used in the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission for downlink data visualization and command sequence generation. RSVP reads...

Feature Image
Who's Who: Aerospace

Dr. Lora Koenig, an expert in remote sensing of ice sheets and snow, provided scientific input for the design of the Goddard Remotely Operated Vehicle for Exploration and...

Feature Image
Briefs: Software
ULTRA: Underwater Localization for Transit and Reconnaissance Autonomy

This software addresses the issue of underwater localization of unmanned vehicles and the inherent drift in their onboard sensors. The software gives a 2 to 3 factor of improvement over the state-of-the-art underwater localization algorithms.

Briefs: Information Technology
Translating MAPGEN to ASPEN for MER

This software translates MAPGEN(Europa and APGEN) domains to ASPEN, and the resulting domain can be used to perform planning for the Mars Exploration Rover (MER). In other words, this is a conversion of two distinct planning languages (both declarative and procedural) to a third (declarative) planning language...