Development of the Third Generation of the Dual-Reciprocating Drill

Abstract

The dual-reciprocating drill (DRD) is a low-mass alternative to traditional drilling techniques biologically inspired by the wood wasp ovipositor, which is used to drill into wood in order to lay its eggs. The DRD reciprocates two halves lined with backwards-facing teeth, enabling it to generate traction forces that reduce the required overhead penetration force. While previous research has focused on experimental testing of the drill’s operational and design parameters, numerical simulation techniques are being developed to allow the rapid testing of multiple designs, complementing and informing experimental testing campaigns. The latest DRD design iteration integrated a novel internal actuation mechanism and demonstrated the benefits of adding controlled lateral movements. This paper presents an exploration of how bit morphology affects drilling performance and a preliminary study of discrete element method (DEM) simulations for modelling DRD interactions in regolith. These have shown how regolith grain size and microscopic behaviour significantly affects the performance of different drill designs, and demonstrated how customisable drills can exploit the properties of various substrates. Two system prototypes are also being developed for the DRD’s third generation, each utilising novel actuation and sampling mechanisms. A final drill design will then be deployed from a planetary rover and perform the first DRD drilling and sampling operation.

Biomimetics for innovative and future-oriented space applications - A review

“…Several prototypes exist that have been tested intensively in a wide range of substrates ranging from fine regolith simulants to icy substrates as the one shown in Figure 5C. Sakes et al (2020) developed a wood wasp inspired micro-drill prototype for minimal invasive surgery capable of achieving a stroke velocity of 4-8.77 mm/s and a transportation rate of up to 5.82 mg/ s. Still, a wood-wasp inspired drills for aerospace applications have yet to be deployed and tested within the space environment (Gao et al, 2006;Gouache et al, 2010;Pitcher et al, 2020;Alkalla et al, 2021).…”

“…More processes involved in on-orbit manufacture and assembly can benefit from bio-inspiration, such as artificial intelligence [neural networks (Krichmar et al, 2019;Wang et al, 2021c)], robotics [gripping (Jiang et al, 2015;Jia et al, 2017)] (see Section 3), and resource acquisition [drilling (Pitcher et al, 2020)] (see Subsection 2.3). Therefore, biomimetics demonstrates an application potential in almost every aspect when it comes to on-orbit processes.…”

“…Therefore, the space sector presents a prime use case for biomimetic design as it describes the process of understanding the underlying natural mechanisms and transferring them into technical applications no matter of the original biological function rather than simply copying them. Several systems such as drilling tools [wood wasp (Pitcher et al, 2020)], telescopes [lobster eye (Tamagawa et al, 2020)], gasping features [gecko feet (Jiang et al, 2017)] and many more have already been conceptualized and partially applied in space technology development and present solutions, where conventional technologies are not able to mimic and compete with the highly optimised biological model.…”

A Methodology to Investigate the Design Requirements of Plant Root-Inspired Robots for Soil Exploration

“…This investigation analyzed how the probe geometry and the soil depth impact the ability of the probe to self-penetrate. In 2020, Pitcher et al [37] proposed a bioinspired drilling system for space exploration combining the reciprocation motion of the wood wasp drill with a new oscillation motion mimicking the motion adopted by marine creatures to move in water and sandfish to bury in the sand. The authors investigated how the bit morphology affects drilling performances and proposed preliminary DEM simulations for analyzing multiple designs rapidly and provide information to experimental campaigns [37].…”

“…In 2020, Pitcher et al [37] proposed a bioinspired drilling system for space exploration combining the reciprocation motion of the wood wasp drill with a new oscillation motion mimicking the motion adopted by marine creatures to move in water and sandfish to bury in the sand. The authors investigated how the bit morphology affects drilling performances and proposed preliminary DEM simulations for analyzing multiple designs rapidly and provide information to experimental campaigns [37]. The authors later adopted DEM and multi-body dynamics (MBD) co-simulations to analyze different drilling methods and soil sampling, highlighting how penetration depth and contact forces depend on the tool-soil interactions [38], [39].…”