Steerable High-Jumping Tensegrity Robot for Space Exploration
Jonathan Jacob Kolt Green, Dario Bozinovski, Fabian Tischhauser, Marco Hutter, Robert Lawrence Baines
AI summary
Problem
Traditional wheeled rovers struggle with orientation-dependent deployment and obstacle clearance in rugged extraterrestrial environments, while existing tensegrity robots lack hardware capable of high, steerable jumping using only structural deformation.
Approach
The researchers designed a lightweight, spherical tensegrity robot with a clutch-based actuation system that compresses its internal structure to store elastic energy, enabling both vertical and directionally controlled jumps without external thrusters.
Key results
- Vertical jumps reaching 1.18 m (1.93 body lengths) via structural compression
- Directional jumping control achieved by independently varying actuator cable tensions
- Survival of 21.5 m free-fall impacts (35.2 body lengths) without damage
- Volume reduction exceeding 4× while maintaining structural integrity
Why it matters
Demonstrates a highly deployable, impact-resistant locomotion paradigm capable of traversing unstructured extraterrestrial terrain where conventional rovers fail.
Abstract
The growing interest in exploring other planets calls for innovative robotic systems capable of deploying to and traversing challenging space environments. While wheeled rovers have traditionally fulfilled this role, they face limitations, including configuration dependence (e.g., requiring an upright orientation), susceptibility to impacts, and difficulty overcoming obstacles larger than their wheel radius. Tensegrity- based robotics presents a promising alternative for future rovers. These lightweight, compliant structures offer compactibility, adjustable stiffness, and the ability to absorb impacts without damage. Moreover, their unique form factor naturally protects scientific payloads. Recent research has explored tensegrity robots for rolling-based locomotion, with increasing interest in leveraging their structures for jumping-based movement. However, achieving hardware capable of high jumps greater than the robot’s body length (BL) and directional jumping control for steerable jumping remains a challenge. This work introduces a tensegrity robot that utilizes structural deformation for jumping locomotion. Through first-principles analyses, simulations, laboratory experiments, and field tests in a planetary analog environment, we demonstrate a robot capable of vertical jumps of 1.18 m (1.93 BLs), directional jumps covering horizontal distances up to 0.59 m (0.97 BLs), and surviving falls from heights of 21.5 m (35.2 BLs). The robot can also reduce its occupied volume by more than 4× without sustaining damage. Results herein highlight the potential of jumping tensegrity robots as robust, versatile platforms for next-generation space exploration.