Tensegrital wheel for enhanced planetary surface mobility: Part 2 - Performance assessment of a ruggedized, double-layer tensegrital wheel.

• Continuous tractive surfaces on discrete wheel designs improve performance. • Maintaining a class 1 tensegrity design is critical to reap benefits of tensegrity. • Discrete wheel designs offer high redundancy and opportunities for internal sensing. • Field tests in a Martian analog demonstrate the robustness of the tensegrital wheel. This paper details ProtoInnovations' work on a novel wheel design concept for planetary mobility. The tensegrital wheel for enhanced surface mobility exploits the geometric and mechanical attributes of tensegrity to mimic the compliant and load-distributing properties of a pneumatic tire using space-qualified materials. The third iteration of these wheel concepts, dubbed the TW3, was subject to particular scrutiny. In this paper, we explore the development of the TW3 and evaluate its performance in lab tests, performed at ProtoInnovation's in-house testing facility, and field experiments, performed in conjunction with NASA Ames Research Center at the Atacama Rover Astrobiology Drilling Studies (ARADS). We compare the TW3 performance to baseline wheels and conclude with suggestions for further tensegrital wheel development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]