Feasibility study of Energetics in Nature-inspired Foraging for Lunar Resource Exploitation

Feasibility study of Energetics in Nature-inspired Foraging for Lunar Resource Exploitation

Angyal, Zalan (TU Delft Aerospace Engineering; TU Delft Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering)

Mazo, M. (mentor)
Menicucci, A. (mentor)
Rajan, R.T. (graduation committee)

Delft University of Technology

Aerospace Engineering

2024-03-20

The rediscovered interest in space exploration has led to plans to establish outposts on the Moon and beyond. The lunar bases currently planned are to be manned incrementally, with robots performing most work. With new trends in robotics, the use of collaborating swarms has become more abundant. To support lunar operation, a distinct area within swarming, namely foraging, is proposed. Foraging systems have the primary objective of recovering resources. From literature, no foraging framework was found that included system maintenance in its mechanisms. This report aims to answer the question if this is possible while maintaining the benefits of foraging.

The research considers the fundamental act of recharging as its required maintenance task. To evaluate it dynamically, a rudimentary energetics model is included. For the framework of foraging, the work of [Adams] is used as a baseline. The newly proposed system implements an additional recharging region and role to perform recharging activities, both having major implications for role selection and agent operation. Furthermore, to enable navigation based on energy considerations, the experience communicated by mobile agents is amended to include the energy cost of a travelled path. In doing so, additional quality indicators of paths are available making path optimization a more dynamic process resulting in finer population behaviour. Finally, the decaying of beacons is updated and a fallback feature is introduced to maximize agent utilization.

The newly developed foraging system is evaluated using data collected through simulation in Webots. Simulation scenarios included obstacles with impenetrable boundaries and surfaces with increased rolling friction to emulate cost-expensive regions. Qualitative analysis identified all features of the foraging system as expected, both in the exploration and exploitation phase. Quantitative results proved that the system is able to function with the added requirements of recharging, perform path optimization with the additional path quality indicator, and can do so in various types of scenarios. With this, the research statement that foraging functionality is achievable with the practical considerations of robotics is confirmed to hold.

Foraging behaviour
Swarm
Moon Rover
Feasebility study

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:824da837-6d76-4702-9a9e-26b261acd709

Double degree in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanical Engineering | Systems and Control

Student theses

master thesis

© 2024 Zalan Angyal