Novel Hopping Mechanism Using Permanent Magnets for Tiny Asteroid Exploration Rover

This paper presents the novel hopping mechanism using permanent magnets for tiny asteroid exploration rovers. The main part of the mechanism consists of one movable magnet and two stationary magnets. The mechanism uses for hopping the impact force generated when the movable magnet sticks to the stationary magnet. The features of the mechanism are that the large impact force can be generated in spite of low power consumption, and that it can be easily miniaturized and modularized. The prototype module weighs only 10g with dimension 21.5 mm in width, 28 mm in height, and 8.5 mm in depth, except for the drive circuit and power source. Preliminary experiment under 1 G environment shows the availability of the proposed mechanism.