Handling Granular, Rocky & Natural Media

Granular and rocky matter is commonplace on Earth, as well as the surfaces of the Moon and Mars. We model granular and rocky physical interactions as a means to design and control novel ground systems for autonomous and remote operation.

Current researchers (August 2023): Deaho Moon, Amber Young, Andrew Galassi.

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Burrowing robots

EMerita BUrrowing Robot (EMBUR)

Press release from the College of Engineering media office:

Digging deep

Efficient reciprocating burrowing with anisotropic origami feet

Anchoring and tugging on loose terrain

A tugging controller that maximizes lateral resistive force by mounding sandy terrain

Harnessing tether-environment contact for large scale tugging forces

Improving Wheel Traction for Planetary Rovers

Push-pull locomotion: Increasing travel velocity in loose regolith via induced wheel slip

Dynamic Analysis of Gyroscopic Force Redistribution for a Wheeled Rover

Mobility Experiments Assessing Performance of Front-Back Differential Drive Velocity on Sandy Terrain

Squirrel-inspired landing

Squirrel-inspired tendon-driven passive gripper for agile landing

Free-ranging squirrels perform stable, above-branch landings by balancing using leg force and nonprehensile foot torque

3D Granular Resistive Force Theory

Granular Resistive Force Theory Implementation for Three-Dimensional Trajectories

Open source Matlab code for running this method now published at our Github page (3D RFT link).

Walk-Burrow-Tug: Legged anchoring analysis using RFT-based granular limit surfaces

Gripping rocky surfaces with spines

SpinyHand: Contact Load Sharing for a Human-Scale Climbing Robot

Gripper Design with Rotation-Constrained Teeth for Mobile Manipulation of Hard, Plating Corals with Human-Portable ROVs