By 
September 4th, 2015
Artist’s concept of the Hedgehog robot, able to function regardless of which side lands up.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Stanford
Rolling and tumbling on another world sounds like a bad and busting idea.
But a robot concept called Hedgehog could explore the microgravity environment of comets and asteroids by hopping and rolling around on them.
While a Mars rover can’t operate upside down, its wheels in the air, the Hedgehog robot can function regardless of which side lands up.
The project is being jointly developed by researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California; Stanford University in Stanford, California; and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.
Spikes and flywheels
The JPL Hedgehog prototype has eight spikes and three flywheels. It weighs about 11 pounds (5 kilograms) by itself, but the researchers envision that it could weigh more than 20 pounds (9 kilograms) with instruments such as cameras and spectrometers.
The Stanford prototype is slightly smaller and lighter, and it has shorter spikes.
Both prototypes maneuver by spinning and stopping three internal flywheels using motors and brakes. The braking mechanisms differ between the two prototypes. JPL’s version uses disc brakes, and Stanford’s prototype uses friction belts to stop the flywheels abruptly.
Spreading out for discovery
Researchers are currently working on Hedgehog’s autonomy, trying to increase how much the robots can do by themselves without instructions from Earth.
Their idea is that an orbiting mothership would relay signals to and from the robot, similar to how NASA’s Mars rovers Curiosity and Opportunity communicate via satellites orbiting Mars. The mothership would also help the robots navigate and determine their positions.
A Hedgehog robot is relatively low-cost compared to a traditional rover, and several could be packaged together for flight.
The mothership could release many robots at once or in stages, letting them spread out to make discoveries on a world never traversed before.
Hedgehog is currently in Phase II development through the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program.
Take a look at this new video on Hedgehog and its development by going to:
Posted in Space News
