10 accepted papers
Gecko-inspired adhesives have the advantage of being able to grasp and release flat surfaces in a vacuum using their microwedge structures. This makes them an especially attractive solution for perching on and grasping flat objects in space for free-flying robots. To grasp and anchor onto these flat…
The International Space Station (ISS) crew has to complete various tasks in a limited time. The Int-Ball project is one of the activities aimed at the efficient utilization of crew time. Int-Ball2 is an autonomous mobile robot that conducts imaging operations in place of crew members by remote contr…
In January 2024, a Japanese lunar lander successfully touched down on the moon as part of the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission. Accompanying the SLIM on its journey were two small rovers named lunar excursion vehicles (LEV-1 and 2). LEV-2, a transformable nano rover, was particular
This letter introduces a novel nano rover designed to transform its shape for efficient movement on lunar surfaces. The rover, resembling a compact ball, has a diameter of roughly 80 mm and a mass around 250 g. Its transformational mechanism allows for compactness during planetary transportation, wi
Small free-flying robots to assist astronauts and perform experiments need a propulsion system to move freely in microgravity. Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulators can simultaneously verify guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) systems, including flight hardware and software, in three dimensions.…
Gecko-inspired adhesives have several desirable characteristics in robotic grasping: controllable activation and deactivation of adhesion, ability to grasp and release with minimal disturbance, and grasping without the need of form closure. Previously proposed grippers with this technology either re…
This paper presents a contact-event-triggered filter using only a force-torque sensor with impedance control for non-cooperative, rotating, heavy object capture. Contact events are modeled for prediction, and detected to trigger the particle filter's updating process. By combining these features, a…
This paper proposes real-time collision-based contact mode estimation with only a force-torque sensor for capturing a moving rigid body. The contact modes are defined for determining when to generate the signal to close the robotic hand for establishing object closure. In our particle filter approac…
This paper presents the path planning and coordinated control of a space robot with a manipulator for capturing a rotating large object. As the grasping point on a rotating large object is translationally moving fast, an appropriate strategy and coordinated motion control of the spacecraft base and…
This paper discusses robust capture of a free-floating target using a robotic arm. The position error resulting from sensor errors and time delay can cause undesired contact and unstable control. In this paper, we propose a caging-based rigid gripper and impedance control, which enables the robot to…