What Types Of Mechanisms Might Be On Robots?
Spirit and Opportunity are equipped with a geology instrument suite and robotic arm for placement of a subset of instruments so that they are in contact with or in proximity to rocks or soil to be measured. Curiosity will be equipped with a robotic arm and tools to gather samples of rocks or soil, then crush and distribute them to deck-mounted instrument test chambers. The evolving line of exploration rovers maintains configurations consisting of wheeled mobility systems and robotic arms that facilitate instrument placement, measurement preparation, and sample collection and handling. Future exploration rovers for Mars will likely be similar, with adaptations in instrumentation and tooling for the science mission at hand. The instrumentation and mechanisms deployed will likely include drills of various types, interchangeable end-effectors, and smaller, retrievable marsupial robots deployed for specialized tasks. The marsupial robots are specialized devices that are tethered to a larger