Prototypes

As outer space missions continue to explore the ways in which we can sustainably create lunar and martian infrastructure, one of the key challenges is the ability to use local resources on the Moon or Mars. This is known as in-situ resource utilization. Traditional robots struggle to navigate uneven terrain because it has limited degrees of freedom, and as a result is harder at going into places like the Moon's South Pole to gather regolith samples because the south pole is full of craters.

The Solution

A spider-leg inspired soft robotic joint. I studied soft robotic actuators and shape-memory alloys and designed a robotic leg that resembles the complexity of a spider leg. This design improves maneuverability on rough terrain, making search and rescue robots more effective in real-world scenarios where soft robots can outperform traditional ones. As this is just a prototype concept, I hope to integrate it into a real soft robotic leg one day using fabrication methods like molding and casting.