This paper describes the design and implementation at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of a small rover for future Mars missions requiring long traverses and rover-based science experiments. The small rover prototype, called Rocky 7, is capable of long traverses, autonomous navigation, and science instrument control. This rover carries three science instruments, and can be commanded from any computer platform from any location using the World Wide Web. In this paper we describe the mobility system, the sampling system, the sensor suite, navigation and control, onboard science instruments, and the ground command and control system. We also present key accomplishments of a recent field test of Rocky 7 in the Mojave Desert in California.

This paper provides an overview of a new manipulation system developed for sampling and instrument placement from small autonomous mobile robots for Mars exploration. Selected out of the design space, two manipulators have been constructed and integrated into the Rocky 7 Mars rover prototype. This paper describes the design objectives and constraints for these manipulators, and presents the finished system and some results from its operation.

This paper provides a system overview of a new Mars rover prototype, Rocky 7. We describe all system aspects: mechanical and electrical design, computer and software infrastructure, algorithms for navigation and manipulation, science data acquisition, and outdoor rover testing. In each area, the improved or added functionality is explained in a context of its path to flight, and need within the constraints of desired science missions.

This paper provides an overview of the authors' selection process for proximity sensors for manipulator collision avoidance. Five categories of sensors have been considered for this use in space operations: intensity of reflection, triangulation, time of flight, capacitive, and inductive. From these categories, the most promising commercial and mature laboratory prototype sensors have been selected and tested. After reviewing the selection process and the experimental results, conclusions are drawn about which sensors are best and why.>

This paper describes a series of robots developed at JPL to demonstrate the feasibility of using a behavior-control approach to control small robots on planetary surfaces. The round-trip light-time delay makes direct teleoperation of a mobile robot on a planetary surface impossible. Planetary rovers must therefore possess a certain degree of autonomy. However, small robots can only support small computers (due mostly to power, not size constraints). Behavior control provides a means of autonomous control that requires very little computation. The robots described in this paper all used 8-bit, 1-MIP microprocessors with as little as 4 k and no more than 40 k of memory, and extremely simple sensors. Despite these limitations they reliably perform both autonomous navigation and manipulation in both indoor and outdoor rough-terrain environments.>