Ciliary Micro-Hopping Locomotion of an Asteroid Exploration Robot

Locomotion capabilities form the basis for accomplishing robotic exploration by a rover on an asteroid. While traditional locomotion gears, such as wheels and tracks, are promising candidates for traversing extraterrestrial terrains, their capabilities lower in such an environment due to its micro-gravity. Here, we propose a new idea of ciliary micro-hopping mechanism for an asteroid exploration robot. In this paper, we deliver fundamental locomotion characteristics of the mechanism based on ground experiments by using an air-floating test bed. Through the experimental analyses, we indicate the proposed mechanism can be one of the possible solutions on locomotion principle under micro-gravity.