Toward Lunar Legged Robots: Field Deployment Lessons at LUNA

2026-10-08

AI Summary

This study addresses the challenges of legged robot deployment on the lunar surface, including regolith interaction, dust generation, and perception degradation under extreme illumination. Leveraging the LUNA analog testbed, we systematically evaluate the navigation and perception performance of the ANYmal-D quadrupedal robot in simulated lunar regolith. By integrating visual-inertial odometry with robust locomotion control through long-duration data acquisition, this work reveals the mechanisms by which sinkage, slippage, and abrupt lighting transitions degrade system performance, and proposes a multimodal sensor fusion framework. Experimental results validate the feasibility of quadrupedal traversal across lunar terrain while highlighting the necessity for enhanced perceptual robustness and manipulation capabilities in future missions.

Abstract

Legged robots are promising candidates for future lunar surface missions because they can traverse steep, loose, and obstacle-rich terrain that challenges conventional wheeled rovers. However, readiness for lunar deployment is limited by uncertainties in foot-regolith interaction, dust generation, illumination-driven perception degradation, and operational constraints. This paper reports lessons from the 2025 LUNA analogue campaign, where ANYmal-D and Magnecko traversed loose regolith simulant and crater-like terrain and collected long-horizon navigation and visual-inertial data under challenging lighting. We show that quadrupedal robots can traverse regolith simulant, but performance is affected by sinkage and slip, dust-generating contacts, and perception failures caused by overexposure, shadows, and low-texture regions. These results motivate tighter integration of regolith-aware locomotion policies, illumination-robust perception, repeatable analogue testing, and mission-level operational validation for future lunar legged robots.

Problem

• lunar legged robots
• foot-regolith interaction
• perception degradation
• dust generation
• analogue testing

Innovation

• Legged robots
• Lunar exploration
• Foot-regolith interaction
• Illumination-robust perception
• Analogue field testing