Chariot: The FIRST Lunar Truck

[Pavan Dave]

Today NASA added a new name to their growing list of robots. The name of this robot is Chariot. Chariot is a lunar rover created at the Johnson Space Center to move payloads as well as to transport a crew.



The neat thing about Chariot is that it takes ideas presented in FIRST and applies them to the real world. For example, Chariot's drive is an off shoot of the Robonauts 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 crab drives. The wheel box is nearly the same as well as the coaxial drive shaft to the wheels. The primary difference between the drive systems is that Chariot has all independent systems nicknamed the "King Crab" after hours of thought.


For more information about this neat robot you can check out the following link:
http://robonaut.jsc.nasa.gov/chariot/index.html

Enjoy!

[JaneYoung]

I'm so glad to learn of this. Watching the continual development/use of the Robonauts crab drive over the past few years has been interesting, intriguing, and cool. It is so neat to see the Chariot and to know how these machines helped in its development. It's got to be versatile, that's for sure. Congratulations - thank you for sharing this, Pavan!

[Chief Pride]

thats really great... im glad to see people using our ideas

[vivek16]

Wow, I have a sudden urge to build that...

-vivek

[team222badbrad]

I must be missing something?

Why would a lunar truck need a crab drive?

While this looks very cool and I would like to have one; it does not seem practical.

I think the engineers had a bit too much fun designing this.

[DonRotolo]

Nice Name for a vehicle. Dr. Smith would be proud.

Don

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by team222badbrad

Why would a lunar truck need a crab drive?

It's not just a crab drive. It's a crab drive with independently-steerable wheels, each wheel set having separate suspension and separate speed control. For driving a large vehicle on absolutely unprepared terrain, it's among the best options. It gives very good maneuverability, traction, and speed.

[nparikh]

I remember seeing this when I visited Johnson this summer. Though at that stage they'd only built one or two of the legs for it. The RoboNaut's shop was pretty cool too

[Jonathan Norris]

looks like the story made its way to engadget: http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/30/n...ruck/#comments

[basicxman]

Originally Posted by team222badbrad

I think the engineers had a bit too much fun designing this.

engineering should be fun!, but i agree

[David Brinza]

Very cool vehicle!

I hope that we can see Chariot and ATHLETE in the NASA exhibit in Atlanta. It would be interesting to compare the designs and capabilities of these lunar mobility robots. Kinda like doing scouting, except it's REALLY out of this world!!

[Pavan Dave]

Hey,

Take a look at the Chariot. Recently the guys added a high gear mode onto the robot and there are some great new videos online. Check them out and enjoy!

http://chariot.jsc.nasa.gov/