Abstract
Although future orbital facilities will have immense scale, details will require intricate operations in restrictive, confined quarters. LEMUR is a small, agile and capable six-legged walking robot that has been built at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to perform dexterous small-scale assembly, inspection and maintenance. It is intended to expand the operational envelope of robots in its size class (sub-5 kg) through the flexible use of its limbs and effectors, as well as through the modular changeout of those effectors. In short, LEMUR is intended as a robotic instantiation of a six-limbed primate with Swiss Army knife tendencies.
LEMUR's layout consists of six independently operated limbs arranged in two rows of three. The front two limbs have four active degrees of freedom while the rear four limbs have three each. Each limb is reconfigurable to allow the integration of a variety of mechanical tools.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Feingold, H. et al. 1999. Space solar power, 1998 concept definition study. SAIC Report Number SAIC-99/1016.
Hickey, G. and Kennedy, B. Six legged experimental robot. NASA Tech. Brief NPO-20897.
Hickey, G., Kennedy, B., and Ganino, T. 2000. Intelligent mobile systems for assembly, maintenance, and operations for space solar power. In Proceedings of the Space 2000 Conference, Albuquerque, NM.
Huntsberger, T., Hickey, G., Kennedy, B., and Aghazarian, H. 2000. Task adaptive walking robots for Mars surface exploration. In Workshop on Concepts and Approaches for Mars Exploration, Lunar Planetary Institute, Houston, TX.
Kennedy, B. Three-fingered hand with self-adjusting grip. NASA Tech. Brief NPO-20907.
Knight, J., and Askins, S. Rotary ball-driver tool with retractable foot. NASA Tech. Brief NPO-30276.
Mahoney, C. Miniature fiberoptics microscope/wide-angle imager with illumination. NASA Tech. Brief NPO-21203.
Whittaker, W., Urmson, C., Staritz, P., Kennedy, B., and Ambrose, R. 2000. Robotics for assembly, inspection, and maintenance of space macrofacilities. In AIAA Space 2000, Long Beach, CA, AIAA-2000–5288.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kennedy, B., Agazarian, H., Cheng, Y. et al. LEMUR: Legged Excursion Mechanical Utility Rover. Autonomous Robots 11, 201–205 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012474603861
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012474603861