Space robotics: Recent accomplishments and opportunities for future research

The Langley Guidance, Navigation, and Control Technical Committee (GNCTC) was one of six technical committees created in 1991 by the Chief Scientist, Dr. Michael F. Card. During the kickoff meeting Dr. Card charged the chairmen to: (1) establish a cross-Center committee; (2) support at least one workshop in a selected discipline; and (3) prepare a technical paper on recent accomplishments in the discipline and on opportunities for future research. The Guidance, Navigation, and Control Committee was formed and selected for focus on the discipline of Space robotics. This report is a summary of the committee's assessment of recent accomplishments and opportunities for future research. The report is organized as follows. First is an overview of the data sources used by the committee. Next is a description of technical needs identified by the committee followed by recent accomplishments. Opportunities for future research ends the main body of the report. It includes the primary recommendation of the committee that NASA establish a national space facility for the development of space automation and robotics, one element of which is a telerobotic research platform in space. References 1 and 2 are the proceedings of two workshops sponsored by the committee during its June 1991, through May 1992 term. The focus of the committee for the June 1992 - May 1993 term will be to further define to the recommended platform in space and to add an additional discipline which includes aircraft related GN&C issues. To the latter end members performing aircraft related research will be added to the committee. (A preliminary assessment of future opportunities in aircraft-related GN&C research has been included as appendix A.

Industrial automation and control in hazardous nuclear environments

textThis report discusses the design and implementation of an automated system for use in geometrically-constrained, hazardous glovebox environments. This system’s purpose is to reduce a hemispherical plutonium pit into smaller pieces that fit inside of a crucible. The size reduction of plutonium pits supports stockpile stewardship efforts by the United States Department of Energy. The automation of this process increases the safety of radiation workers by handling radioactive nuclear material. This decreases glovebox worker dose and exposure to tools, sharps, and fines. This effort examines the hardware and software framework developed to support the use of a Port Deployed Manipulator (PDM) for a contact task. This research effort uses a 7 Degree-of-Freedom (DOF) PDM and a micropunch to reduce hemispherical pit surrogates. Formulation of the material reduction execution algorithm involved addressing a variety of topics related to industrial automation: 1. Collision detection and object recognition based on user-specified parameters. 2. Joint torque monitoring 3. Online motion planning for contact tasks 4. Object-in-hand industrial manufacturing 5. Grasping and handling of nuclear material 6. Software compliance via robust nonlinear control methods A high-bandwidth collision detection algorithm involving joint torque monitoring was developed to increase robot safety during operation. The motion planning algorithm developed for this effort takes variable geometric properties to be used with a range of hemishells. The algorithm’s feasibility was validated on a hardware test bed in a laboratory setting. Hardware cold tests conclude that mechanical compliance is sufficient for task completion. However, software compliance would increase performance, ef- ficiency, and safety during task execution. Two different nonlinear force control laws (feedback linearization and sliding mode control) that minimize object shear forces were developed using a simplified material reduction simulation. It is recommended that glovebox automation research continue to increase worker safety throughout the DOE complex.Mechanical Engineerin

Introduction: The Third International Conference on Epigenetic Robotics

This paper summarizes the paper and poster contributions to the Third International Workshop on Epigenetic Robotics. The focus of this workshop is on the cross-disciplinary interaction of developmental psychology and robotics. Namely, the general goal in this area is to create robotic models of the psychological development of various behaviors. The term "epigenetic" is used in much the same sense as the term "developmental" and while we could call our topic "developmental robotics", developmental robotics can be seen as having a broader interdisciplinary emphasis. Our focus in this workshop is on the interaction of developmental psychology and robotics and we use the phrase "epigenetic robotics" to capture this focus

Robust tuning of robot control systems

The computed torque control problem is examined for a robot arm with flexible, geared, joint drive systems which are typical in many industrial robots. The standard computed torque algorithm is not directly applicable to this class of manipulators because of the dynamics introduced by the joint drive system. The proposed approach to computed torque control combines a computed torque algorithm with torque controller at each joint. Three such control schemes are proposed. The first scheme uses the joint torque control system currently implemented on the robot arm and a novel form of the computed torque algorithm. The other two use the standard computed torque algorithm and a novel model following torque control system based on model following techniques. Standard tasks and performance indices are used to evaluate the performance of the controllers. Both numerical simulations and experiments are used in evaluation. The study shows that all three proposed systems lead to improved tracking performance over a conventional PD controller

Proportional-integral-plus control applications of state-dependent parameter models

This paper considers proportional-integral-plus (PIP) control of non-linear systems defined by state-dependent parameter models, with particular emphasis on three practical demonstrators: a microclimate test chamber, a 1/5th-scale laboratory representation of an intelligent excavator, and a full-scale (commercial) vibrolance system used for ground improvement on a construction site. In each case, the system is represented using a quasi-linear state-dependent parameter (SDP) model structure, in which the parameters are functionally dependent on other variables in the system. The approach yields novel SDP-PIP control algorithms with improved performance and robustness in comparison with conventional linear PIP control. In particular, the new approach better handles the large disturbances and other non-linearities typical in the application areas considered

Aerial Manipulation: A Literature Review

Aerial manipulation aims at combining the versatil- ity and the agility of some aerial platforms with the manipulation capabilities of robotic arms. This letter tries to collect the results reached by the research community so far within the field of aerial manipulation, especially from the technological and control point of view. A brief literature review of general aerial robotics and space manipulation is carried out as well

Modeling, Stability Analysis, and Testing of a Hybrid Docking Simulator

A hybrid docking simulator is a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulator that includes a hardware element within a numerical simulation loop. One of the goals of performing a HIL simulation at the European Proximity Operation Simulator (EPOS) is the verification and validation of the docking phase in an on-orbit servicing mission.....Comment: 30 papge

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 320)

This bibliography lists 125 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during January, 1989. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance

Visual Servoing

The goal of this book is to introduce the visional application by excellent researchers in the world currently and offer the knowledge that can also be applied to another field widely. This book collects the main studies about machine vision currently in the world, and has a powerful persuasion in the applications employed in the machine vision. The contents, which demonstrate that the machine vision theory, are realized in different field. For the beginner, it is easy to understand the development in the vision servoing. For engineer, professor and researcher, they can study and learn the chapters, and then employ another application method