Tan Joven, Melkoumian Noune, Harvey David, Akmeliawati Rini
Discipline of Mining and Petroleum Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, Australia.
School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, Australia.
Biomimetics (Basel). 2024 Nov 7;9(11):680. doi: 10.3390/biomimetics9110680.
The Lunarminer framework explores the use of biomimetic swarm robotics, inspired by the division of labor in leafcutter ants and the synchronized flashing of fireflies, to enhance lunar water ice extraction. Simulations of water ice extraction within Shackleton Crater showed that the framework may improve task allocation, by reducing the extraction time by up to 40% and energy consumption by 31% in scenarios with high ore block quantities. This system, capable of producing up to 181 L of water per day from excavated regolith with a conversion efficiency of 0.8, may allow for supporting up to eighteen crew members. It has demonstrated robust fault tolerance and sustained operational efficiency, even for a 20% robot failure rate. The framework may help to address key challenges in lunar resource extraction, particularly in the permanently shadowed regions. To refine the proposed strategies, it is recommended that further studies be conducted on their large-scale applications in space mining operations at the Extraterrestrial Environmental Simulation (EXTERRES) laboratory at the University of Adelaide.
Lunarminer框架探索了仿生群体机器人技术的应用，其灵感来自切叶蚁的分工和萤火虫的同步闪光，以提高月球水冰提取效率。在沙克尔顿环形山内进行的水冰提取模拟表明，该框架可以改善任务分配，在矿石块数量较多的情况下，将提取时间最多减少40%，能耗降低31%。该系统每天能够从挖掘出的风化层中生产多达181升水，转换效率为0.8，可支持多达18名宇航员。它已展示出强大的容错能力和持续的运行效率，即使机器人故障率达到20%。该框架可能有助于应对月球资源提取中的关键挑战，特别是在永久阴影区域。为完善所提出的策略，建议在阿德莱德大学的外星环境模拟（EXTERRES）实验室对其在太空采矿作业中的大规模应用进行进一步研究。
