Help NASA design a robot to dig on the Moon

Digging on the Moon is a hard job for a robot. It has to be able to collect and move lunar soil, or regolith, but anything launching to the Moon needs to be lightweight. The problem is excavators rely on their weight and traction to dig on Earth. NASA has a solution, but is looking for ideas to make it better. Once matured, robotic excavators could help NASA establish a sustainable presence on the Moon under the Artemis lunar exploration program, a few years after landing astronauts on the surface.

Engineers have tested various configurations of a Moon-digging robot called RASSOR - short for Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot - in a large lunar simulant sand box at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Now, NASA is asking the public to help design a new bucket drum, the portion of the robot that captures the regolith and keeps it from falling out. The regolith can then be transported to a designated location where reverse rotation of the drum allows it to fall back out.

RASSOR's current bucket drums are hollow cylinders positioned on either end of the robot, with scoops around the circumference of the cylinders. The robot digs in opposing ends toward the other, which balances the excavation forces and makes it easier to dig.

NASA's RASSOR Bucket Drum Design Challenge is open through April 20, 2020. The challenge, sponsored by NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), seeks a better shape for RASSOR's bucket drum and baffling, or sheet metal inside of it that can capture and hold more regolith. GrabCAD, a website people can join and post 3D models of almost anything, hosts the challenge and eligible individuals, with an idea can submit original designs that have not been previously published, exhibited or put into production for this important part of RASSOR.

"We've held challenges on GrabCAD in the past and they were very successful," said Jason Schuler, a robotics engineer in the Exploration Research and Technology Programs at Kennedy. "As a repository for computer-aided design, the platform helps us reach professional designers, engineers, manufacturers and students outside of the space industry who may have an idea that could benefit NASA."

Successful designs for this competition will have a fill ratio of higher than 50%, which means the design's interior volume will be more than half full with regolith when it reached the maximum amount it can hold.

"With RASSOR, we're no longer relying on the traction or the weight of the robot. It is possible to excavate on the Moon or Mars with a really lightweight robot," Schuler said.

"RASSOR is excavation and transportation all in one, but we'd like to improve the design."

At the end of the competition, the design entries will be judged on a set of criteria, including width of the scoops, bucket drum mass, diameter and length, volume of regolith captured and practicality of the design. In addition to the CAD files, entries must include a short description of how the design works.

The challenge is funded by NASA's Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative within STMD, which champions technologies needed to live on and explore the Moon. NASA Tournament Lab, part of STMD's Prizes and Challenges program, manages the challenge. The program supports the use of public competitions and crowdsourcing as tools to advance NASA R and D and other mission needs.

+ A total of $7,000 will be awarded for the top five submissions. For more information about prize amounts and how to enter, visit here

+ Learn more about opportunities to participate in your space program via NASA prizes and challenges here

Related Links
RASSOR Bucket Drum Design Challenge
All about the robots on Earth and beyond!

Tweet

Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.

SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly

paypal only

SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once

credit card or paypal

Robots that admit mistakes foster better conversation in humans
New Haven CT (SPX) Mar 10, 2020
Three people and a robot form a team playing a game. The robot makes a mistake, costing the team a round. Like any good teammate, it acknowledges the error. "Sorry, guys, I made the mistake this round," it says. "I know it may be hard to believe, but robots make mistakes too." This scenario occurred multiple times during a Yale-led study of robots' effects on human-to-human interactions. The study, which will publish on March 9 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, ... read more