NASA and Caltech Test Steep-Terrain Rover

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Rhea Borja 818-354-0850
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Rhea.R.Borja@jpl.nasa.gov

NEWS RELEASE: 2009-016 February 4, 2009

NASA and Caltech Test Steep-Terrain Rover

PASADENA, Calif. -- Engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and students at the
California Institute of Technology have designed and tested a versatile, low-mass robot that can
rappel off cliffs, travel nimbly over steep and rocky terrain, and explore deep craters.

This prototype rover, called Axel, might help future robotic spacecraft better explore and
investigate foreign worlds such as Mars. On Earth, Axel might assist in search-and-rescue
operations.

A Web video showing an Axel test-run at the JPL Mars yard is online at:
www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.cfm?id=806 .

"Axel extends our ability to explore terrains that we haven't been able to explore in the past, such
as deep craters with vertically-sloped promontories," said Axel's principal investigator, Issa A.D.
Nesnas, of JPL's robotics and mobility section. "Also, because Axel is relatively low-mass, a
mission may carry a number of Axel rovers. That would give us the opportunity to be more
aggressive with the terrain we would explore, while keeping the overall risk manageable."

The simple and elegant design of Axel, which can operate both upside down and right side up,
uses only three motors: one to control each of its two wheels and a third to control a lever. The
lever contains a scoop to gather lunar or planetary material for scientists to study, and it also
adjusts the robot's two stereo cameras, which can tilt 360 degrees.

Axel's cylindrical body has computing and wireless communications capabilities and an inertial
sensor to operate autonomously. It also sports a tether that Axel can unreel to descend from a
larger lander, rover or anchor point. The rover can use different wheel types, from large foldable
wheels to inflatable ones, which help the rover tolerate a hard landing and handle rocky terrain.

Nesnas co-leads the project with Joel Burdick, a mechanical and bioengineering professor at
Caltech, who supervises a handful of Caltech graduate and undergraduate students working on
the rover system. Last fall, the JPL-Caltech team demonstrated Axel at the annual Smithsonian
Folklife Festival in Washington, which showcased NASA for the agency's 50th anniversary.

"Collaboration with Caltech has been key to the success of this project," Nesnas said. "The
students contributed significantly to the design of the tethered Axel. Their creative work enabled
us to analyze, design and build new wheels, sampling tools and software. The students also
played a key role in field-testing this robot. Without them, we would not have been able to
accomplish such goals, given our limited resources."

JPL began developing Axel in 1999, in partnership with Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.,
and Arkansas Tech University, Russellville, Ark. The Axel project was funded through NASA's
Exploration System Mission Directorate. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

More information on Axel is at:
http://www-robotics.jpl.nasa.gov/systems/system.cfm?System=16 and at
http://robotics.caltech.edu/~pablo/axel/home.html .

Note to Editors: B-roll of the Axel test-run at JPL's Mars Yard and sound bites with Axel team
leaders and students will be available on NASA TV. The NASA TV schedule is online at
www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/schedule.html . The NASA TV Media Channel is available on
MPEG-2 digital C-band signal accessed via satellite AMC-6, at 72 degrees west longitude,
transponder 17C, 4040 MHz, vertical polarization. For digital downlink information for NASA
TV's Media Channel and access to NASA TV's Public Channel on the Web, visit
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv .

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