MoonLine by TachyAstroach

Inspiration

On the Moon, astronauts and habitats depend on reliable power, data, and tether lines to stay alive and operational. We wanted to build a robot that supports a core “infrastructure” task that is easy to overlook but mission-critical: deploying and routing cables quickly and safely.
Space relevance: On a lunar base, cable routing (power/data/tether) is essential for life support redundancy, sensor network bring-up, and emergency repairs.
We also wanted a task that works in multiple realistic scenarios—not only on open lunar terrain, but also inside a moon base where hallways, corners, and tight access routes make manual deployment difficult.

What it does

MoonLine Cable Deploment Robot System is a controller-driven parent–subunit rover system that helps route cables across:

Outdoor lunar construction zones (between modules, across open ground)
Indoor base-like environments (narrow corridors, constrained spaces)

The Parent rover handles stable movement and carries the Subunit rover plus the cable/tether system. The Subunit rover can drive into tighter or farther areas to complete the “last-meter” routing where the Parent can’t fit.

How we built it

System architecture

Custom Controller (Controller Track requirement)
- 3 joysticks for intuitive, split control
- 2 OLED displays for live status/telemetry
- nRF wireless communication to the robots (we used three nRF modules across controller + parent + subunit)
Parent Rover/Robot
- Motors for stable movement
- Carries the Subunit rover and cable/tether payload
- Performs bulk movement and controlled cable deployment
Subunit Rover/Robot
- Connects to the Parent via the tether/cable link
- Drives into narrow or distant areas to complete routing

Control mapping (designed for speed + clarity)

Left + Right joysticks: control the Parent rover movement
Left/Right joystick Z-axis input: payout / retract the tether between Parent and Subunit
Center joystick: control the Subunit rover movement
Center joystick Z press: toggle control mode (Parent vs Subunit)

Task demonstration flow

Drive the Parent rover to a staging point
Payout tether/cable in a controlled way
Switch control and send the Subunit into constrained spaces to finish routing
Retract slack and park safely, using live OLED feedback to reduce mistakes

Challenges we ran into

Designing a controller that is ergonomic and intuitive while controlling two robots + a tether
Making tether payout/retraction predictable so the cable doesn’t slack, snag, or tangle
Keeping wireless control responsive while still updating OLED status in real time
Coordinating “Parent vs Subunit” switching so the system feels like one robot team, not two separate robots

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Built a full Controller Track system with a custom controller (3 joysticks + dual OLED telemetry)
Achieved parent–subunit coordinated operation, including mode switching and tether management
Demonstrated a space-relevant task that maps to real mission needs: cable deployment for construction and base operations
Designed the system to be versatile across outdoor lunar terrain and indoor base-like routing

What we learned

In human-in-the-loop robotics, the biggest wins come from clean control mapping + clear feedback
A simple real-world task becomes complex when you add multi-robot coordination + tether/cable dynamics
Iteration speed matters: test small behaviors, validate reliability, then layer complexity

What's next for MoonLine

Add richer telemetry (battery, link quality, deployment length, fault flags)
Improve cable management hardware for smoother payout/retraction and fewer snags
Add safety-assist behaviors (speed limiting near obstacles, smoother switching, basic constraint checks)
Improve endpoint interaction so the robot can better “finish” a cable routing job at a target connector or docking point