ReachBot Archives

ReachBot is a robotic concept that uses extending booms as prismatic limbs to navigate difficult terrain. Shown in a rendering is the full ReachBot configuration overlaid on a photograph of the field test site in the Lavic Lake volcanic field in the Mojave Desert. -- cs.RO

Away Teams & Field Reports, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Desert Worlds, Exploration Gear & Tech, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report

Away Team Droid Tech: ReachBot Field Tests in a Mojave Desert Lava Tube as a Martian Analog

by Keith CowingJuly 11, 2024August 23, 2025

ReachBot is a robot concept for the planetary exploration of caves and lava tubes, which are often inaccessible with traditional robot locomotion methods.

A depiction of a tethered ReachBot entering a lava tube via a skylight. ReachBot uses deployable booms as prismatic limbs, allowing the negotiation of sparse anchor points along the cliff and access to scientifically interesting areas such as stratigraphy along underhangs or fractures that would be inaccessible with other robot morphologies. -- cs.RO

Analog Studies, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Fossils & Paleontology, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report

Away Team Droid Tech: Martian Exploration of Lava Tubes (MELT) with ReachBot: Scientific Investigation and Concept of Operations

by Keith CowingJuly 9, 2024July 6, 2024

As natural access points to the subsurface, lava tubes and other caves have become premier targets of planetary missions for astrobiological analyses.