NOMAD: A Demonstration of the Transforming Chassis

During the Summer of 1997 - Nomad - a planetaryrelevantmobile robot, was driven via satellite link formore than 125 miles in the Atacama Desert of Chileby novice operators in North America, demonstratingmany technologies relevant to robotic explorationof the planets. An innovative "transforming" chassiswas demonstrated which uses a simple linkage tochange the footprint of the vehicle from a stowed toa deployed position. This linkage also enables bothdouble Ackerman and point-turn...