About

SPACE MOBILITY pioneers the development of agile, energy-efficient mobile robots designed for navigating diverse terrains such as the Moon, Mars, and Earth. Our focus lies in creating legged and hybrid wheeled systems that boast motion capabilities equivalent to or surpassing those of the most agile animals and humans. Our overarching vision is to deliver robust transport systems capable of accessing hazardous locations with ease, including high-inclination slopes, cliffs, and craters that are currently inaccessible with existing technology.

Solution & Product

Our company’s legged robot LEO addresses the need for payload transportation over challenging lunar terrain and it is a paradigm shift towards legged system since its innovative actuation-centered design leads to increased energy efficiency, lower mass, cost and maintenance needs compared to existing solutions. Each of these characteristics are of paramount importance in the Moon where energy will be limited, maintenance involves complex procedures and mass transferred from Earth to Moon comes with a high cost. Furthermore, Leo’s key technology features could also be a game changer in real life Earth applications such as search and rescue mission and precision agriculture. The key features of LEO not only are fully aligned with the demands of these applications but also rely beyond the state of the art of currently used robots. LEO, will be able to perform complex monitoring and transportation tasks regardless of the soil conditions and terrain inclination profile.

Innovation & Scalability

Quadruped robots can be used widely; from precision agriculture to planetary exploration. They can traverse diverse terrains, such as rocks and sand where wheeled robots might struggle. These advantages come at a cost: complexity, energy inefficiency, and extensive testing. Additionally, there are many prone to failure subsystems on all SOTA quadrupeds (e.g., mechanical transmissions, force sensors, encoders etc), resulting in the need for regular maintenance. SM address these issues by: -tUsing SOTA sensorless control methods based on HFI (High Frequency Injection) -tEliminating by design energy inefficient, costly, and highly prone to failure mechanical reducers by drawing a lot more torque per weight out of powerful motors -tReplacing expensive, heavy, and prone to failure force sensors with current sensors. -tDeveloping optimal and energy efficient control algorithms Specifically, our quadrupeds feature direct drive actuation modules with various torque outputs. These units are compact and easily replaceable towards future proof solutions that could be easily upgraded. The fact that there is no need for force sensors decreases the cost while enabling orders of magnitude less expensive proprioceptive force/torque sensing using current sensors. Finally, a key strength is the increased energy efficiency which stems from the elimination of mechanical reducers (30% of the motor energy can be lost in typical gearboxes).

Traction & achievements

In February 2024 SPACE MOBILITY was accepted to the European Space Agency (ESA) Business Incubator, receiving funding for the development and testing of its main product, the legged robot LEO. During the incubation phase the company has already achieved technological milestones regarding the development of critical LEO subsystems and developed strategic synergies with other startups joining efforts towards developing advanced systems for real-life applications.

Team & Why Us

The founding team of SPACE MOBILITY has been working together for more than ten years developing advanced robotic systems in European, National, and ESA-funded projects.

Funding Needs

Currently Space Mobility is bootstrapping. Funding opportunities will be taken into consideration.