'Shortall' - An ALLGO Submission

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The proposed model, presented with the attached CAD files and renderings partially incorporates the initial blueprint provided for the challenge, and uses elementary cylindrical tubes as beams and frame to support the central gantry system required to be elevated. Four driving units with four wheels each take the load of the total system in both its stowed and deployed configuration. Compressed gas is stored in each of the four driving units, which inflate the cylindrical tubes.The model consists of three main portions.I) Lower drive units II) Cylindrical inflated tubes III) Sliding systemThe cylindrical shape was selected because of simplicity. If the tubes are cylindrical, then folding methods like triangulation or bellows can be used to compress the cylinders into very thin folds able to be transported easily, and unlike telescopic tubes, these patterns do not cause friction in the fiber surface. The only aberration in the cylindrical structure is the angled joint, or an elbow between two straight cylindrical tubes, which have no proper researched method of folding. However, the single angled joint in the design will cause no trouble as it can be compensated by a small relief area which can overlap the regular regions of the cylinder. The gantry system is enclosed inside the central slider block. The system has been designed to fit under an area of 5 meter squared, which is under the capacity of landers designated to be sent to the moon, from which state it deploys effectively on the moon surface. The system deploys from the stowed configuration in the following steps:Steps in DeploymentStep 1 – The system gets unloaded from the lander and is driven towards the working area.Step 2 – Two of the four driving units extend the system in the lateral direction. Doing this will ensure the horizontal tubes are un-creased properly before they are inflated. After this step, only a portion of the lateral extension is achieved, and the remaining extension will follow after subsequent steps.Step 3 – Inflation is initiated from all four cylinders simultaneously. This step de-compresses the cylinder beams, while simultaneously elevating the central gantry.Step 4 – As the pressure in the tube builds up, the four driving units move towards the lateral direction to increase the extension further.Step 5 – The pressure gauge regulates the pressure threshold and terminates the inflation process after a specified rigidity is obtained.