Planetary rover wiggles its rear wheels to overcome loose terrain

Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have looked to shore up the mobility and freedom of future planetary rovers with a new design to tackle loose, troublesome terrain. The team’s Mini Rover uses some clever trickery to get itself out of t… Continue reading Planetary rover wiggles its rear wheels to overcome loose terrain

Laser-powered rover is designed to explore the Moon’s eternal darkness

Solar power is not just a great energy source on Earth, it can work on the Moon and Mars too. But there are some places that a solar-powered rover just can’t reach, like the Moon’s polar regions that are permanently in shadow. Now, ESA has outlined a n… Continue reading Laser-powered rover is designed to explore the Moon’s eternal darkness

Autonomous 3D Rover With Tank Tracks Rules The Fields. Almost

Scope creep is a real pain in the real world, but for projects of passion it can have some interesting consequences. [rctestflight] was playing around with 3D printed rover gearboxes, which morphed into a 3D printed tank build.

[rctestflight]’s previous autonomous rover project had problems with the cheap geared …read more

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Hackaday Links: March 15, 2020

Just a few weeks ago in the Links article, we ran a story about Tanner Electronics, the Dallas-area surplus store that was a mainstay of the hacker and maker scene in the area. At the time, Tanner’s owners were actively looking for a new, downsized space to move into, and

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Rover Runs Slow And Steady On Solar Power

The solar panel technology we have available today doesn’t really lend itself to practical everyday transport. But when speed isn’t a concern, it can make for some very interesting autonomous rovers. One example of this is [Daniel Riley] aka [rctestflight]’s solar powered rover, which he built to live autonomously at …read more

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Organic molecules on Mars may be evidence of ancient life

Organic compounds have been discovered on Mars in recent years – but how did they get there? A new study examines the different ways that one type in particular, thiophene, may have formed, and intriguingly one of the most plausible scenarios involves … Continue reading Organic molecules on Mars may be evidence of ancient life

ESP32 Rover With PCB Chassis is Ready to Roll

The microcontrollers are cheap, the sensors are cheap, even the motors are cheap. So why are all the good wheeled robotics platforms so expensive? [Dimitris Platis] wanted to develop an affordable platform for experimenting with rovers, but the cheap plastic chassis he was using gave him all sorts of problems. …read more

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NASA wants you to design part of its future Venus rover

NASA is looking for help in designing a vital element of a rover that could one day explore Earth’s hellish twin, Venus. The component would allow the rover to safely explore the surface, and would have to be capable of enduring an incredibly hostile e… Continue reading NASA wants you to design part of its future Venus rover

India’s Moon Mission is Far from Over

India’s Chandrayaan-2 mission to the Moon was, in a word, ambitious. Lifting off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on July 22nd, the mission hoped to simultaneously deliver an orbiter, lander, and rover to our nearest celestial neighbor. The launch and flight to the Moon went off without a hitch, …read more

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