A rover system that can be reassembled into different shapes, developed by the Shenyang Institute of Automation, a part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has passed a verification check. Made up of a mainframe and triangle caterpillar wheels, the mainframe serves as the parent robot, and wheels sub-robots. A sub-robot is connected with a mechanical arm. What makes it different from other rovers is that it can be reassembled into different shapes to meet circumstantial needs. When its ??arm?¯ grasps the parent robot, the sub-robot becomes a rolling wheel. The coordinated movement of sub-robots can accomplish what rovers have performed on Mars.
The Shenyang Institute of Automation has so far rolled out a number of sub-robot prototypes. A caterpillar sub-robot can move independently, step over obstacles, ??stand up?± to grasp an object, or get connected with other sub-robots to perform a coordinated movement. Scientists believe that these independent structures can accomplish different probe tasks, such as finding routes and collecting samples on Moon or Mars. They also can be used to probe dangers in rescue missions. |
