{"id":17624,"date":"2020-11-17T21:53:06","date_gmt":"2020-11-17T13:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/wibotic-joins-astrobotics-team-to-build-wireless-charging-system-for-moon-rovers\/"},"modified":"2020-11-17T21:53:06","modified_gmt":"2020-11-17T13:53:06","slug":"wibotic-joins-astrobotics-team-to-build-wireless-charging-system-for-moon-rovers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/wibotic-joins-astrobotics-team-to-build-wireless-charging-system-for-moon-rovers\/","title":{"rendered":"WiBotic joins Astrobotic\u2019s team to build wireless charging system for moon rovers"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_592399\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-592399\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-592399\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/201116-cuberover-630x351.jpg\" alt=\"CubeRover prototype\" width=\"630\" height=\"351\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/201116-cuberover-630x351.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/201116-cuberover-1260x702.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/201116-cuberover-768x428.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/201116-cuberover-1536x855.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/201116-cuberover.jpg 1670w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-592399\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Astrobotic\u2019s CubeRover prototype wheels over a simulated lunar surface. (Astrobotic via YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Seattle-based WiBotic says it\u2019s working on a wireless charging system and energy management software for moon rovers, in partnership with Astrobotic, Bosch and the University of Washington.<\/p>\n<p>The hardware and software for robotic lunar missions will build on the work that the UW spin-out has done on similar systems for applications here on Earth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve conquered marine robotic systems, mobile terrestrial robots, aerial drones \u2014 and now, space,\u201d WiBotic CEO and co-founder Ben Waters told GeekWire.<\/p>\n<p>The team-up is supported by a $5.8 million NASA \u201cTipping Point\u201d contract to overcome the power challenges that will face robots on the moon\u2019s surface. One of the biggest challenges will be providing electric-powered rovers with enough juice to keep them active during the cold lunar night, which lasts two weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic is the prime contractor. It aims to use WiBotic\u2019s charging system on lunar rovers that will include its own CubeRover, a shoebox-sized, four-wheeled robot that would venture forth from a base station to take on exploration tasks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBringing wireless power technology to the surface of the moon and beyond is a game-changer in the way space robotics systems have traditionally interacted,\u201d Cedric Corpa de la Fuente, electrical engineer for planetary mobility at Astrobotic, said today in a news release.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor instance, by removing dependencies to solar charging, a new wide range of opportunities for smaller and lighter systems becomes available for missions that were not within reach before \u2014 such as survival of lunar night missions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Wireless Charging on the Moon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9LXmnpAc-6w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>WiBotic\u2019s rapid-charging system uses paired antennas and receivers to transfer electrical power wirelessly and safely, for drones and underwater robots as well as autonomous robots at industrial sites. For robotic missions on the moon, Waters said, \u201cthe goal would be to have at least some energy for the robot to go do maybe a one-hour mission during the lunar night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Waters said WiBotic\u2019s energy management software is designed to work hand in hand with the hardware, on Earth and on the moon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMonitoring the energy is crucially important,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe certainly wouldn\u2019t want the solar panels on the lander to be compromised and drain the batteries out because we were trying to charge the robot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That becomes even more important once a network of multiple robots and charging stations is set up on the moon. Waters said WiBotic is aiming for its system to transfer a maximum of 100 watts of power from solar charging stations.<\/p>\n<p>Operations on the moon can easily stir up lunar soil, or regolith, which has a low level of electrical conductivity. For that reason, it might make more sense to charge up the rover from above, rather than putting a charging pad on the surface.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe robot will be able to get close to, but doesn\u2019t have to be perfectly aligned with, the charging pad,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s likely that it won\u2019t be docking with perfect accuracy every time. So that added flexibility, the tens of centimeters that we can enable, is very important.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_592430\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-592430\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-592430\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/201116-charger-630x473.jpg\" alt=\"OC-262 Onboard Charger\" width=\"630\" height=\"473\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/201116-charger-630x473.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/201116-charger-1260x945.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/201116-charger-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/201116-charger-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/201116-charger-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-592430\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">WiBotic\u2019s waterproof OC-262 Onboard Charger is part of a system for powering up robots. (WiBotic Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Bosch, an international industrial technology firm with its U.S. headquarters in Michigan, will contribute software expertise in wireless connectivity and artificial intelligence. The University of Washington\u2019s Sensor Systems Laboratory will provide support for testing and validation under simulated lunar conditions.<\/p>\n<p>Waters said WiBotic will be working on the Tipping Point development project over the next 24 to 30 months. \u201cAs a result of this work, we hope to have a ready-to-go, space-qualified system,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd as for deployment, that would be on a subsequent mission. It\u2019s not entirely clear when that would be, but more than likely it would be 2023 at the earliest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Astrobotic is due to send NASA\u2019s VIPER rover to the moon in late 2023 to study water ice in permanently shadowed regions of the south polar region \u2014 a mission that could probably use a recharging system like Wibotic\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>In an email, Waters told GeekWire that the Tipping Point project was focused on the much smaller CubeRover concept rather than on VIPER. \u201cBut to your point, the WiBotic system is meant to be interoperable with other devices\/robots,\u201d he said. \u201cSo in theory it could be applied to other robots in the future, and that is our hope.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Waters said WiBotic\u2019s terrestrlal products are likely to benefit from some of the innovations that come out of the project \u2014 for example, the development of a passive cooling system rather than a fan-cooled system for the battery-charging hardware. But he has his eye on farther-out space applications as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs you probably know, for some of the robots that have previously been deployed to Mars, power has been their demise,\u201d he said, in reference to nearly every solar-powered robot that\u2019s been sent to the Red Planet. \u201cThe solar panels get covered up with dust, they can never get enough light to recharge, and then the battery dies. And then that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Waters noted that the NASA mission currently heading to Mars will conduct the first-ever test of a battery-powered helicopter on another planet. \u201cWe hope that there will be many more types of robots and drones deployed in space, whether that\u2019s the moon or Mars,\u201d he said. \u201cI think this will be a great first dive into developing these space-qualified systems, but certainly down the road, we hope that there are opportunities to deploy on other planets with other robots as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Astrobotic\u2019s CubeRover prototype wheels over a simulated lunar surface. (Astrobotic via YouTube) Seattle-based WiBotic says it\u2019s working on a wireless charging system and energy management software for moon rovers, in partnership with Astrobotic, Bosch and the University of Washington. The hardware and software for robotic lunar missions will build on the work that the UW [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[304,697,4645,625,190,4439],"class_list":["post-17624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-artemis","tag-astrobotic","tag-lunar-rovers","tag-moon","tag-nasa","tag-wibotic"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17624"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17624\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}