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Opportunities and Challenges in Space Robotics

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Opportunities and Challenges in Space Robotics

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GUEST EDITORIAL

www.advintellsyst.com

Opportunities and Challenges in Space Robotics


Hamid Marvi

Robotic technology has the potential to play a major part in the space applications. In particular, the article by Spenko, reviews
quest to uncover the origins of life and investigate the feasibility robotic attachment mechanisms for extraterrestrial applications.
of long-term human habitation outside of Earth. However, the Specifically, bio-inspired fibrillar dry adhesives for smooth sur-
harsh conditions present in outer space, including radiation, vac- faces, electrostatic adhesives for smooth and rougher surfaces,
uum, temperature fluctuations, and complex, unpredictable ter- and microspines for rocky and rough surfaces are discussed
rain, pose significant obstacles to the development and operation (2100063). The article by Zhang et al., reviews soft robotics tech-
of robotic systems. Although a variety of robotic platforms have nologies for space applications. Particularly, advantages of soft
been created for exploration, construction, and maintenance in robots for such applications and potential design, modeling, fab-
space, their capacity to address fundamental questions remains rication, sensing, and control improvements for adapting to
largely untapped. In particular, the design, construction, and space environments are described (2200071).
control of robots that can withstand the rigors of extreme space Finally, there are two perspective articles included in this spe-
environments remain a significant challenge. cial section that provide insight on soft robots (2100106), and bio-
In this special section, which is building on a workshop co- inspired multi-legged and limbless robots (2100195) for mobility
organized by the guest editor at the 2020 IEEE International on extra-terrestrial terrain. Ng and Lum elaborate on key advan-
Conference on Robotics and Automation, we focus on the recent tages and potential changes to actuation, fabrication, and locomo-
advancements of space robots, as well as opportunities and criti- tion of soft robots for future planetary explorations (2100106).
cal challenges of this field. In particular, we cover topics of sig- Li and Lewis discuss using terradynamics insights for developing
nificant interest to the field including mobility on granular bio-inspired ground robots that are effective in maneuvering on
terrain and bio-inspired and soft robots for extraterrestrial appli- granular and rocky planetary terrain (2100195).
cations. Because research pertaining to space robotics is gener- The guest editor extends heartfelt gratitude to the authors,
ally interdisciplinary in nature, we include articles not only from reviewers, and the editorial team for their great contributions
roboticists but also from physicists and planetary scientists. to this special section. We hope this collection of articles will
This special section includes two research articles (2100040, inspire researchers currently working in space robotics, and also
2100125), two review articles (2100063, 2200071), and two encourage other researchers to engage this exciting and challeng-
perspectives (2100106, 2100195). The research article by ing field.
Khajenejad et al., presents an alternative set-valued or set-mem-
bership estimation framework for estimation of unknown plan-
etary terrain parameters based on how they affect rover motion
(2100040). The other research article by Green et al., presents
CASPER, a novel screw-propelled excavation system for planetary
exploration and excavation. This platform employs screw
propellers for both mobility and excavation and demonstrates
significant excavation capability with low mass and power
requirements (2100125).
The two review papers in this special section discuss robotic
attachment mechanisms (2100063) and soft robots (2200071) for Hamid Marvi

H. Marvi
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy
Arizona State University
551 E Tyler Mall, Room ERC 365, PO Box 876106, Tempe, AZ 85287-6106,
USA
E-mail: [email protected]
The ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article
can be found under https://doi.org/10.1002/aisy.202200277.
© 2023 The Authors. Advanced Intelligent Systems published by Wiley-
VCH GmbH. This is an open access article under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution
and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
DOI: 10.1002/aisy.202200277

Adv. Intell. Syst. 2023, 5, 2200277 2200277 (1 of 1) © 2023 The Authors. Advanced Intelligent Systems published by Wiley-VCH GmbH

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