Drive - Drill - Navigate - Analyze
The Lunar Rover Initiative is developing Scarab to evaluate and demonstrate a combined drilling and science rover platform for lunar exploration. Scarab needs to be able to withstand extreme temperatures, perpetual darkness, and intermittent communications to explore polar regions of the moon in order to survey sites and understand resources for future science and exploratory missions. Working for nearly a decade to develop feasible mission concepts and validate technologies in extreme environments here on Earth, we are experienced, skilled, and dedicated to the vision of lunar exploration.
How do you design a robot that can be close to the ground for drilling, while maintaining a sufficient belly clearance for mobility and obstacle avoidance?
Scarab solves this problem by altering it's body pose. Scarab's nominal driving pose allows for extreme mobility and obstacle handling,while Scarab's drilling pose lets the robots belly lay on the ground.
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