"Tri-Star3"; Horizontal Polyarticular Arm Equipped 3-Wheeled Expandable Rover

The expandable-type rover, which retracts in the spaceship and expands after reaching upon landing seems to be effective as the planetary rover. In our laboratory, "Tri-Star3"; a horizontal poly-articulated expandable 3-wheeled planetary rover based on the expandable rover has been developed. Tri-Star3 has just only three wheels and passive joints with braking mechanisms. This rover expands or changes its own shape by the driving force produced by each wheel when the joints are free to rotate. Because of these reasons, this rover is comparatively light-weight is cheap to manufacture and it is easy to operated.