Reduced gravity on the Moon and Mars significantly affects the mobility performance of rovers. We have developed reduced-gravity experimentation capabilities that are unique in the world. Our automated terramechanics testbed enables repeatable soil preparation and precisely controlled experiments, all within the tight constraints imposed by operations aboard parabolic flights. We have successfully completed 4 reduced-gravity flight campaigns, with the National Research Council of Canada Flight Research Lab (funded by the Canadian Space Agency) and with Zero-G through an International Space Act Agreement with NASA. We have studied implements ranging from an ExoMars prototype rover wheel to an ultrasonic excavation blade, in effective gravity levels and simulant soils faithfully recreating Lunar and/or Martian terramechanics. Based on parabolic flight results, we have developed guidelines for 1-g testing on Earth, using Granular Scaling Laws, that best predicts performance in reduced-g.
Daca A*, Tremblay D, Skonieczny K. (2023). Expansion and experimental evaluation of scaling relations for the prediction of wheel performance in reduced gravity. Microgravity Science and Technology. 35(6): 59.
Haeri A*, Skonieczny K. (2022). Gravity sensitivity of continuum numerical solvers for granular flow modeling. Granular Matter. 24(2): 66: 1-17.
Daca A*, Tremblay D, Skonieczny K. (2022). Experimental evaluation of cone index gradient as a metric for the prediction of wheel performance in reduced gravity. Journal of Terramechanics. 99: 1-16.
Niksirat P*, Daca A*, Skonieczny K. (2020). The effects of reduced-gravity on planetary rover mobility. International Journal of Robotics Research. 39(7): 797-811.
Kovacs L, Ghotbi B, Gonzalez F, Niksirat P*, Skonieczny K, Kovecses J. (2020). Effect of gravity in wheel/terrain interaction models. Journal of Field Robotics. 37(5): 754-767.
Karpman E, Kovecses J, Holz D, Skonieczny K. (2020). Discrete element modelling for wheel-soil interaction and the analysis of the effect of gravity. Journal of Terramechanics. 91: 139-153.
Skonieczny K, Niksirat P*, Forough Nassiraei A. (2019). Rapid automated soil preparation for testing planetary rover-soil interactions aboard reduced-gravity aircraft. Journal of Terramechanics. 83: 35-44.
Daca A*, Skonieczny K. (2022). Evaluating 1-g testing methods for predicting planetary rover mobility in reduced gravity. ESA Symposium on Advanced Space Technologies in Robotics and Automation (ASTRA). Noordwijk, Netherlands.
Niksirat P*, Forough Nassiraei A, Skonieczny K. (2019). Characterizing the Effects of Reduced Gravity on Rover Wheel-Soil Interactions using Computer Vision Techniques. IEEE Internationoal Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). Montreal, Canada.
Concordia University's Aerospace Robotics Lab
Research interests include: Space robotics, Planetary rovers, Robot mobility, Vehicle-terrain interactions, Advanced 3D printing techniques, Robotics excavation & construction, Reduced gravity experimentation, Computer vision and machine learning for robotics applications.
