This robot is called 'Mars Rover 2' Its built as a results of lessons learned from 'Mars Rover 1' The robots chassis is made out of a solid peace of 4" square extruded aluminum tubing, with lots of machining! The robot uses stepper motors for precise motion control. A omni wheel caster insures little disturbance in intended motion. The end covers of the robot are hinged for access along with a access panel on top.
The most helpful innovation is a 'Waldo' control system added to the remote control station. Its a duplicate of the scan platform and gripper system on the actual robot. The operator moves by hand the scan platform and gripper, finger opening and after sending the sequence to 'Mars' the robot will move its hardware to the same locations!
Thanks to the stepper motors and omni wheel caster the operator can make a series of commands and 'Up Link' them to 'Mars', the robot will move with great repeatability as requested!
This robot shows with carfull design a robot can be remotely operated. The operator has no direct view other than the data the robot sends. A 10 second delay by the control station simulates the long signal transit times to another planet and forces the operator to plan a sequence of
operations to send to the robot, as is the practical need of the actual NASA rovers on Mars.
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