ARES Project ERC 2026 | Final Video

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-26

[00:00:05]We are project. We stand here as a representative of Japan. A collaborative samurai team led by Tok University, KO University, Uniting University across the country. Four years ago, three student with nothing but pure passion started Japan's first ever student master team. No budget, no blueprint, just belief. Today we are over 40 engineers and we have built nine Mars rovers from the ground up. Our team operates through four specialized divisions. The Tohawk team pioneers our rover and drone systems. We design and manufacture the hardware ourselves and fully construct the software including autonomous navigation. The Tokyo team engineers our robotic arm. They develop highly precise hardware featuring custom cyclloidal reducers powered by advanced control systems using forward and inverse kinematics.

[00:01:07]The science team primarily consists of Tohoku members. They construct the physical sampling systems including custom drills and shovels while defining theoretical models and scientific presentations.

[00:01:22]Finally, our PL team primarily based in Tokyo secures our operational future.

[00:01:29]They raise funding through sponsorships and crowdfunding, manage social media and organize collaborative events to connect Japan's global community with industry partners.

[00:01:41]Operating across two halves, Sai and Tokyo, presents a significant geographical challenge. However, we overcome this barrier through advanced online workspace and frequent intensive joint development camps. This ensures seamless communication and highquality integration of these complex systems.

[00:02:02]Through this unified effort, we have proven ourselves at international rover challenges as back-to-back champions in Japan and with strong performances in the US. But now we seek a new frontier.

[00:02:17]Space exploration is about venturing into the unknown. For us, that unknown is the European rover challenge. No Japanese team has ever reached the ELC finals. We are here to break that barrier, test our limits, and leave our mark on this uncharted territory. And this is RS9. We don't just dream about Mars. we are building to push the future of space exploration forward. Meet RS9, the robot we proudly developed. Its design features large diameter wheels and a rocker suspension system. This robust design allows RS9 to easily overcome obstacles while keeping the chassis stable on rough terrain.

[00:03:07]RS9 handles basic movements. Driving forward and backward, turning right and left, and traversing slopes with high stability.

[00:03:40]It is also equipped with an emergency button that stops the robber immediately.

[00:03:47]>> One of the key features of R9 is it invented control four-wheel system.

[00:03:53]>> This allows robot to perform not only normal driving and turning but also lateral movement and pivot turn enabling variety of driving modes. In addition, RS9 supports autonomous navigation using LAR based obstacle detection and GNSS guided waypoint navigation by recognizing its surroundings and detecting obstacles in real time. The low can automatically navigate to its destination safely and efficiently. We use LA to generate 3D point crows alongside GNSS sensors and IMU for lowization. This enables a lower to gener time cost map to dynamically prs.

[00:04:35]R9 is also equipped with an inter sense enabling arcomaka detection and depth estimation to further support navigation tasks.

[00:04:46]This is Haruki 2, the most reliable member of our team. When designing this drone, reliability in harsh environments was a top priority. The hexacopter configuration, six rotors, 13-in props is a deliberate choice for maintaining stable flight in strong winds. Total weight is 3 kg with a flight time of approximately 15 minutes. By combining depth perception from the Intel real sense with autonomous decision making in Matlab Simolink, Haruki 2 executes the full sequence target detection, approach, and precision landing completely autonomously. Now let's see it in action.

[00:06:07]Safety systems include automatic return to home, auto land on low battery and polygon geo fencing. Fail seats are layered.

[00:06:17]>> Our philosophy is modularity. Every part of RS9, the SH, the arm, the science panel is independent. They are swappable and they are field maintainable. The arm is a fully custom 60 manipulator. We made almost every part ourselves. The shoulder joint uses propriary cycllo reducer delivering 574 Newton meters peak torque with structural length in CFRP to keep this time mass low. The gripper generates 10 kilograms of grip force. For control, we primarily use inverse kneatics. The operator moves the joystick to shift the gripper's position in 3D space and the joint angles are calculated automatically to match. We also have a direct telebration mode where each joint can be controlled individually.

[00:07:12]Oh, and this is scale mode. She's not in the spec sheet, but she exists.

[00:07:21]>> Moving to our science capabilities, we developed special tools for sand, rocks, and liquid samples for deep sampling, a custom ogre drill excavate down to 320 mm. It conveys soil directly into a low cell mountain container for a realtime mass measurement. For surface sampling, we use a clam shell shovel gripper. Its 200 mm opening accommodates rocks over 150 mm while enhancing gripping force for secure collection. It efficiently collects and instantly weighs both sand and rocks. Furthermore, it easily swaps with our standard gripper. Finally, for liquid sampling, we utilize a specialistic pump system. A vertically actuated tube positions the inlet at the target liquid surface and transfers the fluid into a dedicated container. A clean window lets us visually confirm the collected volume from outside.