FANG (Futuristic Autonomous Navigation Gizmo)

Fang is a modified Cybermotion K2A robot. It was originally put together in 1988. The base uses synchro-drive for mobility and steering. In addition to the factory controller on board, the robot also had a VME cage with a 68020 processor. The VME cage was identical in hardware, and much of the software, to the control processor used on Robby. FANG was used to test out some of the navigation software which was later used on Robby, in preparation for NASA’s Mars Rover Sample Return Mission. This mission was later canceled.

Some of the people that helped build and program FANG are: Jim Firby, Erann Gat, John Loch, David Miller, and Marc Slack.

For the original webpage of information, please visit dpm.kipr.org.