Project of Mars rover wheels based on structural infill using additive manufacturing

Abstract

Described is the process of designing and manufacturing tubeless wheels for the Mars rover with structural infill by the AGH Space Systems scientific club, who will take part in the University Rover Challenge competition. Some of Mars rover subsystems’ are so unique hence they should be manufactured from the beginning. The algorithm for generating the structural infill has been proposed. The strength tests were conducted for the preliminary identification of material parameters, and their results were used in FEM strength analysis. Wheels have been made of polymers with fused filament fabrication (FFF) additive technology, and then applied in the KALMAN rover.

Development and Analysis of Additively Manufactured Non-Pneumatic Tires for Mars Rover

“…Nowadays a wide range of materials i.e., metals, composite materials, diverse types of plastics, and bioinks can be used in 3D printers [5]. Before proceeding to the manufacturing stage, it is essential to conduct several analyses to ensure the desired characteristics and capabilities of the model [6] demonstrate the development of a methodology for evaluating the mechanical behavior of an NPT using experimental data and a numerical approach [7] employed the finite element method (FEM) to evaluate the structural integrity of their NPT model prior to its 3D printing. They subsequently integrated the fabricated model into their rover, which took part in the URC 2018 competition.…”