Approaches for the Design of Mobile Platforms with Mobility, Economic Feasibility, and Robustness in Lunar Environments

Abstract

This paper organizes and reviews design elements. There are two main design perspectives to be considered. First of all, the mobile system should guarantee traversability on rough terrains in microgravity condition. Secondly, the system should be sustainable in the extreme environment of the lunar surface including cosmic rays and excessive temperature changes. For the issues, we analyzed four elements for design of a wheeled mobile robot; wheel configuration, suspension, steering, and actuator placement. In this paper, the effective systems for each elements are evaluated by reviewing pervious and ongoing researches.