In collaboration with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), a team of UH students designed and integrated an experimental actuated dome-shaped device with a mobile lunar rover to support autonomous lunar surface operations. This work is part of the NASA MIRO-supported HORIZONS Project, which advances swarm-based robotic systems for future Artemis missions and lunar infrastructure. The project began with concept development, prototyping, and lab integration, where students created the adaptive mechanism and prepared it for rover compatibility.
In March 2025, team members David Whaley, Cory Crow, Ashton West, and Charity Golleher traveled to MSFC in Huntsville, Alabama, where they successfully integrated and validated the adapting mechanism with a UR5e robotic arm mounted on a ClearPath Robotics Husky Rover.The prototype was then tested at MSFC’s Lunar Regolith Terrain Field, demonstrating key functionality in a simulated lunar environment. These efforts highlight significant progress toward enabling autonomous rover operations and were supported by the NASA MIRO grant.