A team of robotics experts from the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, or Skoltech, have proposed the development of two-wheeled robots controlled via swarm artificial intelligence algorithms that can operate independently or as part of a team to complete critical mission tasks on the surface of Mars. They would replace the famous rovers that have been wandering the red planet, Mars, for so many years (Mars Pathfinder was the mission that took the first vehicle to travel around Mars: Sojourner was the first rover sent by humanity to Mars, in 1997).
The new system, which has been published in the journal Acta Astronautica, consists of four two-wheeled robots that can operate independently or be combined in various constellations . According to the study, that approach will enable longer exploration missions that will gather more information about the planet’s history, the planet’s potential habitability, and possible traces of surface water or former life.
swarm robotics
Ever since NASA’s microwave-sized robot landed on the Red Planet in 1997, researchers have used the same basic design, but improved: a six-wheeled autonomous rover carrying a suite of scientific instruments on board. . Researchers now suggest that a mission to Mars could accomplish much more in the same amount of time by employing several differently equipped robots simultaneously performing separate tasks in different locations and occasionally coming together for more complicated tasks. .
“ This is basically an optimization problem : How do you maximize exploration time and distance traveled without skyrocketing mission cost? We found that using a six-wheel rover can be suboptimal. By our calculations, four two-wheel machines are the best way to go. Each one would carry unique research tools with only the critical payload present in the four modules”, explains Alexander Petrovsky, co-author of the work.
What is this type of robotics based on?
It is an engineering discipline that focuses on coordinating a group of robots in a decentralized and distributed manner (using swarm intelligence algorithms) to perform tasks that individual robots cannot and is inspired by the collective behaviors of swarms found in nature, such as flocks of birds, colonies of ants, swarms of bees, schools of fish or herds of animals. Robotic swarms would operate similarly with radio-frequency or infrared-enabled proximity communication systems.
“Artificial intelligence technologies that monitor the swarm of mobile robots will open the doors to a new technological level of planetary exploration,” says the expert.
According to him, swarm robot technology aimed at exploring Mars could also benefit lunar missions and even projects on Earth. For example, similar two-wheeled robots could be deployed to monitor the growth of agricultural plants and detect pests or diseases that affect them.
“In July 2021, we did some field tests with small two-wheeled robots on crops in Krasnodar, Russia,” Petrovsky said. In addition to this, the modular approach could also benefit robotics developed for search and rescue operations.
With applications also on our planet
Thus, the application of swarm robotics technology is not limited to the exploration of Mars. It may have an impact on lunar exploration or, indeed, here on Earth: two-wheeled autonomous robots could be of great help in various areas, such as agriculture, underwater exploration or search and rescue operations.
Reference: Alexander Petrovsky, Ivan Kalinov, Pavel Karpyshev, Dzmitry Tsetserukou, Anton Ivanov, Alessandro Golkar, The two-wheeled robotic swarm concept for Mars exploration, Acta Astronautica, Volume 194, 2022, Pages 1-8, ISSN 0094-5765, DOI : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2022.01.025.
