Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have developed Olympus, a quadruped robot designed for planetary exploration. Olympus utilizes jumping as a form of locomotion, enabling it to navigate challenging terrains on celestial bodies with lower gravity, such as Mars and the Moon.
The robot's design features a 5-bar mechanism in each leg, optimized for high vertical and forward jumping capabilities. This configuration allows Olympus to overcome obstacles and traverse uneven surfaces effectively. Additionally, the robot employs a Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) policy to stabilize its attitude during flight, ensuring precise landings and maintaining orientation in low-gravity environments.
Olympus has undergone extensive testing, demonstrating its ability to perform various attitude reorientation maneuvers. These experiments validate the robot's design and control strategies, confirming its suitability for exploring complex terrains like Martian lava tubes. The successful development and testing of Olympus represent a significant advancement in robotic exploration, offering new possibilities for studying planetary surfaces and subsurface environments.
For more detailed information on Olympus and its capabilities, refer to the research paper titled "Olympus: A Jumping Quadruped for Planetary Exploration Utilizing Reinforcement Learning for In-Flight Attitude Control," authored by Jørgen Anker Olsen, Grzegorz Malczyk, and Kostas Alexis, and presented at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2025.