MDRS 167B
Science Report 14 Apr 2016
Sol 06
Jonathan Beechner made more progress on his project by creating 3D models of the supporting arms outside the hab. He also joined Jaxom Hartman in his Engineering Rounds in order to attain more measurements outside the hab. Jaxom made progress debugging code.
Victoria La Barre, pending approval, is planning a second EVA to test the EMSR tomorrow, Friday, April 15. The EMSR was first tested locally and it was learned that it could operate 91.67 feet away from the Human Driver before the VEXnet keys disconnected. The EMSR also could climb about halfway up the steep hill directly in front of the Hab, but once the angle of the hill grew larger than 47.83 degrees, the front wheels were lifted into the air and could not re-gain traction. Therefore, the EMSR currently can only handles driving across flatter ground with moderate hills that elevate gradually. The second test was conducted at the Gypsum Fields. The robot sustained very little damage on the first ATV ride there, aside from slightly bent metal on the frame. It was very windy, but the EMSR’s progress was not noticeably affected by the wind, aside from the connection to the VEXnet keys were drastically shortened due to the dust the wind kicked up. A human driving test was then performed using the EMSR by Jonathan. His learning time was 4:03 minutes but his retrieval time was 14:28 minutes. This test result is polar opposite to the Human Driver Test Results in conducted in Texas: typical drivers with a learning time of 2:38 and over typically had retrieval times that ranged from 57 seconds to 2 minutes. (If nothing else, this drastic difference shows the importance of testing rovers at MDRS to simulate more accurate Mars terrain.) The primary reason that Jonathan’s Retrieval Time was so long was because the axles of the front two wheels were constantly pulled out of their motor sockets from steep bumps. (At this time, the EMSR does not have enough power to drive across the terrain without all four wheels functioning.) In general, the EMSR drove successfully on harder, dry terrain than soft, powdery terrain because the wheels had more traction. Victoria plans to attach metal bars across the wheels to keep the axles in place before the second EVA tomorrow.
Jonathan Beechner
Crew Geologist/Greenhab
Victoria LaBarre
Crew Chemist/Chef
Jaxom Hartman
Crew Biologist/Engineer