NASA is testing a shape-changing robot wheel.

To plant a self-propelled vehicle on another planet is an extremely difficult task, which requires several stages of descent, the use of parachutes, airbags and rocket engines. Therefore, NASA is extremely interested in creating simpler and more reliable robots in order to significantly expand the program for studying the solar system.



At the NASA Ames Research Center, they thought of putting electronics in the middle of a moving exoskeleton that can move like one big wheel, changing its shape. This is how the design of the Super Ball Bot robot appeared.





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Weighing only a couple of kilograms, such robots can be dropped onto the planet in dozens and even hundreds. For example, on Titan with a dense atmosphere and low gravity, they will easily survive the landing, even if they are simply dropped from a height of 100 km. Then they themselves will decompose - and roll out in different directions to explore the terrain. On Mars, however, will have to use parachutes.



The movement of the robot is carried out with the help of six servomotors, which are synchronized with each other and calculate the direction in which the limbs should be moved so that the whole structure “rolls” forward slightly.







The advantages of such a scheme are many. These are the mentioned cheapness and low weight, but also the opportunity to explore a large surrounding area, which is impossible to do with the help of one or two ordinary type of rovers (on wheels). In addition, Super Ball Bot is not inferior in cross-country ability even to an all-terrain vehicle, it is able to drive around stones and rough terrain, climb hills and gently roll.