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China, Italy jointly invent robot for moon exploration
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-05-29 08:52 Italian and Chinese scientists have jointly
invented a prototype robotics system for Moon exploration,professor Carlo Ghezzi
of the Polytechnic University of Milan (PUM)told a visiting Chinese journalist
delegation in Milan.
"The prototype robots are under control test," Ding
Xilun, a Chinese professor who heads the Space Robots Laboratory of the Beijing
University of Aerospace and Aeronautics, confirmed to Xinhua in a telephone
interview on Sunday.
He said that current research was being centered on
intelligence control and communication.
The project was initiated in 2004
with Alberto Rovetta, director of the Robot Lab of PUM's Mechanic
Department.
Besides the prototype, scientists have also completed system
design, structure design, sampling arm, sensors selection, locomotion planning
and simulation of lunar environment.
The Novel Robotic System for Space
Exploration, or "NOROS-1" for short, involves a robot family with one host robot
and four assistants.
Upon the project's completion in 2008, these robots,
each measuring 40 to 80 cm in diameters and weighing 12 to 30 kilograms,would be
equipped with a wheel/leg locomotion system which allow them to move as they
want and respond to the land situation on the Moon.
These intelligent
robots would cooperate with each other like human beings and remain unaffected
by the malfunction of other robots.
Ding said that the final test of the
whole system would be conducted in Beijing.
"Once the products are put to
use, there will be an automatic robotic system on the Moon to manage and improve
satellite communication. They can also be used to explore the environment of the
Moon and collect soil samples on the Moon," he added.
The research
program has been listed into the Sino-Italian Science and Technology Cooperation
Plan in early January.
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