Walking rover with multiple legs for planetary exploration

Toward the turn of the century, several schemes sending an unmanned mobile explorer to the moon or Mars are being planned for scientific exploration. Planetary revers are required to explore rough and steep areas such as craters, cliffs, etc. A legged rover can provide higher capability of moving in such a rough terrain than wheeled robots. Therefore the authors have studied a small and lightweight rover which can move across a rough terrain such as a steep slope inside craters. A prototype of the robot with six legs has been developed. This paper presents the system concept, architecture, and configuration of the developed walking rover for planetary exploration. This paper also discusses a walking algorithm.