Lunar Prospecting Robot Tested in Hawaii

Posted 16 Oct 2008 at 18:57 UTC by steve

On the side of a dormant volcano in Hawaii, a CMU robot called Scarab will pretend it's on the southern pole of the moon, autonomously navigating the terrain, and trying to extract water, hydrogen, and oxygen from the surface. The robot is equipped with a drill that can pull a 1 meter core sample out of the ground. CMU built the four-wheeled robot for NASA's Human Robot Systems program. Scarab weighs in at 400 kg, measures 5 1/2 by 3 feet, and runs on the same amount of power as a 100 watt light bulb. For more info see the CMU news release or the CMU Lunar Rover Initiative