Design and simulation of a 5 DOF robotic manipulator for rovers and other smaller vehicles according to European Rover Challenge competition guidelines

Abstract

Nowadays, space agencies have an increasing need for robots to perform in the aerospace field. The European
Space Foundation, through the European Rover Challenge (ERC), promotes the technological development of
manipulators that can perform in situations inspired by tasks necessary for planetary exploration. Therefore, in
this article, we proposed the design and simulation of 5 degrees of freedom robotic manipulator designed and
simulated by computer, whose actuators are stepper motors to make their programming and control easier and
more understandable. The result is a well-performance robotic manipulator with enough versatility to perform
the tasks required by the contest.