Modularity for the future in space robotics: A review

Post, Mark; Yan, Xiu-Tian; Letier, Pierre

doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2021.09.007

Cited by 38 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 49 publications

(56 reference statements)

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“…In comparison with integral robots, a modular robotic system shows some distinguished advances in terms of portability, reconfigurablity, adaptability, resilience, fault-tolerance, and cost-effectiveness for a large variety of tasks [159], [160], [161]. Post et al [162] gave a thorough review on the development of modular robots for planetary exploration and on-orbit servicing. However, design of a modular robotic system differed from that of integral system, and existing modular systems were mostly designed intuitively, and a great deal of research is needed to design, implement, operate, and reconfigure a space robotic system.…”

Section: ) Robots For Space Operationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The State of the Art of Information Integration in Space Applications

Yung

et al. 2022

IEEE Access

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This paper aims to present a comprehensive survey on information integration (II) in space informatics. With an ever-increasing scale and dynamics of complex space systems, II has become essential in dealing with the complexity, changes, dynamics, and uncertainties of space systems. The applications of space II (SII) require addressing some distinctive functional requirements (FRs) of heterogeneity, networking, communication, security, latency, and resilience; while limited works are available to examine recent advances of SII thoroughly. This survey helps to gain the understanding of the state of the art of SII in sense that (1) technical drivers for SII are discussed and classified; (2) existing works in space system development are analyzed in terms of their contributions to space economy, divisions, activities, and missions; (3) enabling space information technologies are explored at aspects of sensing, communication, networking, data analysis, and system integration; (4) the importance of first-time right (FTR) for implementation of a space system is emphasized, the limitations of digital twin (DT-I) as technological enablers are discussed, and a concept digital-triad (DT-II) is introduced as an information platform to overcome these limitations with a list of fundamental design principles; (5) the research challenges and opportunities are discussed to promote SII and advance space informatics in future.INDEX TERMS Information integration (II), space informatics, digital triad (DT-II), internet of digital-triad things (IoDTT), first-time right (FTR), space information integration (SII). FIGURE 2. Technical drivers of II applications.

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Section: ) Robots For Space Operationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The State of the Art of Information Integration in Space Applications

Yung

et al. 2022

IEEE Access

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“…However, these large dedicated robots and equipment have high launch costs and low utilization rates. Several astronaut-assisting robots have been developed, including humanoid robots ( Diftler et al, 2011 ; Ackerman, 2019 ), on-orbit modeling robots ( Zykov et al, 2007 ; Post et al, 2021 ), and wearable-assisting robots ( Hall, 2013 ; Zhao et al, 2021 ). The primary application purpose of these devices is to provide astronauts with operation or strength enhancement assistance for on-orbit servicing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reinforcement learning based variable damping control of wearable robotic limbs for maintaining astronaut pose during extravehicular activity

Zhao

Zheng²,

Sui³

et al. 2023

Front. Neurorobot.

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As astronauts perform on-orbit servicing of extravehicular activity (EVA) without the help of the space station’s robotic arms, it will be rather difficult and labor-consuming to maintain the appropriate position in case of impact. In order to solve this problem, we propose the development of a wearable robotic limb system for astronaut assistance and a variable damping control method for maintaining the astronaut’s position. The requirements of the astronaut’s impact-resisting ability during EVA were analyzed, including the capabilities of deviation resistance, fast return, oscillation resistance, and accurate return. To meet these needs, the system of the astronaut with robotic limbs was modeled and simplified. In combination with this simplified model and a reinforcement learning algorithm, a variable damping controller for the end of the robotic limb was obtained, which can regulate the dynamic performance of the robot end to resist oscillation after impact. A weightless simulation environment for the astronaut with robotic limbs was constructed. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method can meet the recommended requirements for maintaining an astronaut’s position during EVA. No matter how the damping coefficient was set, the fixed damping control method failed to meet all four requirements at the same time. In comparison to the fixed damping control method, the variable damping controller proposed in this paper fully satisfied all the impact-resisting requirements by itself. It could prevent excessive deviation from the original position and was able to achieve a fast return to the starting point. The maximum deviation displacement was reduced by 39.3% and the recovery time was cut by 17.7%. Besides, it also had the ability to prevent reciprocating oscillation and return to the original position accurately.

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“…They can arise from various sources-complex terrains, extreme weather conditions, or even human factors. Robots operating in such scenarios require robustness and resilience to withstand and potentially recover from such challenges and to complete their missions [4]. Over the last few years, soft robots have gained particular attention for their flexibility and compliance as well as potentially improved safety properties over conventional rigid robots [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Articulating Resilience: Adaptive Locomotion of Wheeled Tensegrity Robot

Wang¹,

Post²,

Tyrrell³

2022

Electronics

Self Cite

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Resilience plays an important role in improving robustness for robots in harsh environments such as planetary exploration and unstructured terrains. As a naturally compliant structure, tensegrity presents advantageous flexibility for enhancing resilience in robotic applications according to existing research. However, tensegrity robots to date are normally based on monolithic morphologies and are slow in locomotion. In this paper, we demonstrate how we adopt such flexibility to improve the robustness of wheeled robots by articulating modules with tensegrity mechanisms. The test results reveal the robot is resistant and resilient to external hazards in a fully passive manner owing to the continuous elasticity in the structure network. It possesses a good number of DoFs and can adapt to various terrains easily either with actuation or not. The robot is also capable of crawling locomotion aside from wheeled locomotion to traverse uneven surfaces and provide self-recovery from rollovers. It demonstrates good robustness and mobility at the same time compared with existing tensegrity robots and shows the competitiveness with conventional rigid robots in harsh scenarios. The proposed robot presents the capability of tensegrity robots with resilience, robustness, agility, and mobility without compromise. In a broader perspective, it widens the potential of tensegrity robots in practical applications.

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Modularity for the future in space robotics: A review

Cited by 38 publications

References 49 publications

The State of the Art of Information Integration in Space Applications

The State of the Art of Information Integration in Space Applications

Reinforcement learning based variable damping control of wearable robotic limbs for maintaining astronaut pose during extravehicular activity

Articulating Resilience: Adaptive Locomotion of Wheeled Tensegrity Robot

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