IPN students develop robot vehicle for exploration

A group of specialists from the Computer Research Center (CIC) under the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) are working on a rover type exploration vehicle, with the potential to be used in search tasks in unknown and unstructured terrains.

Juan Humberto Sossa Azuela, head of the CIC Robotics and Mechatronics Laboratory

, explained that the design process for the robotic vehicle was similar to that of robots developed for space exploration.

He clarified that although the project is similar to that of space robots, there were slight differences regarding the type of adverse environment that the device would face.

According to the information agency of the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) , the prototype will be able to carry out such varied tasks that it will be useful for economic activities such as mining, rescue work, or taking samples that could be analyzed by the robot itself.

"I can do all those exploration tasks by using the same robot. If it comes equipped with a small laboratory, it will be able to analyze certain properties of minerals and then produce the result via wireless to a remote station that could be several thousands of kilometers away."

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