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LRU (Lightweight Rover Unit)

company logo for DLR DLR

Country: Germany

Year: 2014

Summary

The Lightweight Rover Unit (LRU) is the prototype of a mobile robot for exploration of unknown, impassable and hard to access terrain.

Status: Prototype, Research

Operation: Autonomous

Robot Type / Domain: Research, Space

Tasks: planetary exploration missions, terrestrial disaster operations

Learn More

The Lightweight Rover Unit (LRU) is the prototype of a mobile robot for exploration of unknown, impassable and hard to access terrain. The research work on semi-autonomy serves as preparation for future planetary exploration missions and terrestrial disaster operations.
In 2014 the LRU was presented in public for the first time.

System description

The LRU combines several of the latest technologies developed at the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics such as the drive and joint units, the motors of which were already proven in outer space use for five years on the International Space Station in the ROKVISS experiment. A stereo camera and multi-award winning Semi-Global-Matching stereo vision (SGM) enable the robot to perceive its surroundings in three dimensions. From this, the Rover calculates maps of the environment and then autonomously steers towards predefined targets in unknown and uneven terrain. This independent navigation is essential, since signals from the earth require several seconds or minutes making direct remote control difficult. The enhancement of the LRU with a robotic arm mounted on the system allows it to manipulate known and unknown objects. In 2015, the LRU took part in the SpaceBot Camp of the DLR Space Administration.

Technical Specifications

Size: 1140L 740W 940H (mm)

Size: 44.882L 29.134W 37.008H (in)

Max. Payload: 5 kg

Max. Payload: 11.023 lbs

Weight: 30 kg

Weight: 66.139 lbs

Max. Locomotion Speed: 1.11 m/s

Max. Locomotion Speed: 3.642 ft/s

Max. Slope: N/A

Battery Operated? Yes

Average Runtime: 1 hr(s)

Max. Runtime: 2 hr(s)

Battery Recharge Time: N/A

Number of Axes: N/A

Number of Wheels: 4

Wheels: Standard wheels, Other

Manipulation: N/A

IP Rating: N/A

Operating Temperature: N/A

Open-source? N/A

Price: N/A

Show more specs

Degrees of freedom: 12, divided among: • 4 wheel actuators • 4 steering actuators • 2 series-elastic joints • 2 joints in the pan-tilt unit (camera)

Features: • 6D location estimation and 3D mapping of unknown environments (mapping) • Automatic path planning, obstacle avoidance and terrain classification

Ground clearance: 23cm

Sensors: • Pan-tilt unit with a black and white stereo camera and a color camera • Balance sensor (IMU) • FPGA-based stereo vision with 15Hz (SGM)

Controller & Computing: i7 Mini ITX CPU board, Linux RTOS operating system, Links-and-Nodes real-time framework (DLR-RM), ROS non real time parts, EtherCAT Bus System with control frequency 1kHz

Actuators: Nominal output torque: 5 Nm, RoboDrive ILM38x06 BLCD: Momentary peak torque: 5 Nm Harmonic Drive Repeated peak torque: 11 Nm HFUC11-100 Momentary peak torque: 25 Nm

Battery: Two battery packs (28.8V / 5Ah)

Data Transmission / Communication: Autonomous waypoint navigation to manually entered destinations

No more specs to show.

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References

Publications

Wedler et al., "LRU - Lightweight Rover Unit", in Proc. of the Symposium on Advanced Space Technologies in Robotics and Automation (ASTRA), Netherlands, May 2015.
Schuster et al., "The LRU Rover for Autonomous Planetary Exploration and its Success in the SpaceBotCamp Challenge", in Proc. of the 2016 IEEE International Conference on Autonomous Robot Systems and Competitions (ICARSC), Braganca, Portugal, May 2016.

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