Paper:
Precise In-Orbit Servicing by Multisensory Hand-Connected with Long Arm
Kazuo Machida*, Yoshitsugu Toda* and Mitsushige Oda**
*Electrotechinical Laboratory, MITI, 1-1-4 Umezono, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8568, Japan
**National Space Development Agency of Japan, 2-1-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8505, Japan
This paper presents the space experiment of in-orbit servicing from a chaser satellite to a target satellite, using a multisensory hand connected with a long arm. The experiment is carried out to acquire the technology that enables a long robot arm to perform highprecision tasks through the smart hand. A three-finger multisensory hand, ARH (Advanced Robotic Hand), is connected to the 2.4m length manipulator arm, ERA (ETS RobotArm), in orbit, and sample retrieving from “Orihime” to “Hikoboshi” is achieved in this configuration. The work environment is measured by sensor fusion of the range sensors, hand-eye camera and contact sensors, and the world model is precisely calibrated before the task. The sample retrieving is successfully performed due to the position/force hybrid control of the arm and fine compensation by the hand mechanism under multisensory monitoring.
This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationa License.
Copyright© 2000 by Fuji Technology Press Ltd. and Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers. All right reserved.