Six wheels, solar panels and a cute face – with the ExoMy, the Mars rover for the front yard becomes a reality. The European Space Agency ESA provides all necessary files and detailed instructions online for the replica. Schools or students in particular could use the templates to venture into robotics, so the hope of the ESA. There are already some replicas.

There is more about robotics in the special issue 2019 of the Make.

From Mars to University The replica should take a total of one to two weeks and around 500 cost euros. A 3D printer (or printing service) is required for this. For the other components, readily available standard parts such as small motors, converted game controllers and the Raspberry Pi craft computer are used. With 42 centimeters high, the finished ExoMy is then significantly smaller than its “big sister” Rosalind Franklin, who from 2022 should drive over Mars. Various features such as the drill and the spring system are modeled on the design – instead of the camera, ExoMy has an individually changeable head with face and hat.

The hardware and software files as well as the print templates have been uploaded to Github by ESA . Originally developed for a one-time use as a demo device in 2018, ExoMy is now intended to be a cheap prototyping platform for robotics experiments. Therefore, one is also open to further developments and new ideas, according to ESA.

ExoMy: Mars rover for home (3 pictures) ExoMy is modeled on its big “sister” Rosalind Franklin.

(Image: ESA) The large Rover Rosalind Franklin was originally supposed to have been since 2018 be on duty and explore our neighboring planet as part of the ExoMars mission. The joint mission of ESA with the Russian space agency Roskosmos has already been postponed several times – most recently due to the coronavirus pandemic.

(hch)