2019/01/20
[ Japanese ]
n the summer of
2019, the Japan Space Elevator Association (JSEA) will organize the competition
event SPEC x ROC, that is the combination of climber lifting and robot activity. Robot will be lifted by
a climber to the designated altitude, will descend to the ground from the height and do designated
action on the ground. The English notation of the event is Space Elevator Climber x Robotics
Challenge,
and the abbreviation is SPECXROC.
Space elevator is the most promising as a mass transportation system connecting celestial body
surface and the space including the earth. It was mere a dream, but the turning point was the
discovery and analysis of carbon nanotube (CNT) by Mr. Sumio Iijima in 1991. The CNT is expected
to be the cable material (tether) having the strength required for construction of the space elevator
on earth. In 2009, the Japan Space Elevator Association commenced development experiments and
competitions (Space Elevator Challenge = "SPEC") in which a tether made of aramid fibers hung
from balloons and climbers run along the cable. In 2013, the climber reached altitudes up to 1,200 m
and exceeding 100 km/h.
As the next step, we will not only raise and lower the climber itself, but also the challenge of loading
cargo as a step of the mass transportation system. And the payload will be the robot as added value,
instead simple load such as sandbags.
In this challenge, participants shall not only to lift a robot which weight is 8kg, but also shall consider
elements such as the centroid, radio interference to the remote control of the loading device, and so on.
There are several reasons for
adopting a robot.
1) At altitude of orbital station and other stations, when the space elevator is to be constructed, there
should be assembly works such as space photovoltaic power generation equipment, where the risk
of exposure to cosmic rays is high, so it is conceivable that more robotic work will be utilized.
JSEA encourages the development of high mobility robots for space by incorporating it into the
competition.
2) When the space elevator will be constructed with extra-terrestrial objects such as on Mars, it is
conceivable to throw the construction robot from the middle of the cable prior to the transportation
of the material for the
construction of the ground part.
3) It may be necessary to cooperate between device on the climber and on the cargo for loading, moving,
detaching, etc., the robot may be considered as
a cargo side device.
4) JSEA believe we can offer new challenging target for robot
technology development.
Below is the
outline of the competition. JSEA will inform you of detailed information from
time to time.
Venue: Fukushima Robot Test Field
Scheduled date: 14th
and 15th September 2019
Participation briefing session: March
2019
Participation deadline: in
early May 2019
Drawing review: May
2019
Competition Categories: Space Elevator Climber
Robot
(We do not set categories for students, companies, individuals etc.)
Scheduled altitude: 100
m
Regulation: TBD
[PDF page and paste a link]
Requirement and Specifications: TBD [PDF page and paste a link]
Participation fee: To
Be Decided
Awards: In addition to introduction of excellent teams on the web and entry to
pamphlets, awards
There will be possibilities such as
scale change, postponement, cancellation, etc. due to weather, supply status of
helium, number of participants and so on.
For inquiries, please contact SPECxROC@jsea.jp.