The DLR Crawler
Sep. 19th, 2010 09:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
There were a lot of people from DLR (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt) at iSAIRAS. I spent some time with a group who were working on the "DLR Crawler" which, apparently, has been cobbled together out of the "DLR Hand". I had high hopes of this, with visions of this disembodied hand crawling about on the surface of Mars. In reality, the DLR Crawler looks a lot less like a hand than you might expect.
They were looking at the use of stereoscopic vision to make assessments of the roughness of any terrain the crawler had to traverse and plan a route and modify its gait accordingly.

DLR Hand

The DLR crawler people (looking remarkably smart) showing off their demonstration set up.

A slightly scary-looking artist's impression of the DLR crawlers deployed
They were looking at the use of stereoscopic vision to make assessments of the roughness of any terrain the crawler had to traverse and plan a route and modify its gait accordingly.

DLR Hand

The DLR crawler people (looking remarkably smart) showing off their demonstration set up.

A slightly scary-looking artist's impression of the DLR crawlers deployed