On-orbit servicing, active debris removal or assembling large structures on orbit are only some of the tasks that could be accomplished by space robots. In all these cases, a contact between a space robot and the satellite being serviced, deorbited, or assembled will occur. This contact results in a contact force exerted on the space robot, and therefore momenta of the space robot system are no longer conserved. Most of the papers that are concerned with motion planning problems of a space robot manipulator either consider that no external forces or moments are acting on the space robot system or use additional controllers when the space robot is subjected to external forces and moments. Such a controller minimizes end-effector position and orientation errors caused by the changes in system momenta due to external forces and moments acting on this system. The novelty of this work is that it proposes a new method for planning the motion of dual-arm space robot manipulators when linear and angular momenta of the space robot system are not conserved due to external forces and moments acting on the space robot base or/and manipulators’ end-effectors. In the proposed method the changes in system momenta are considered, but no additional controllers are needed. In this paper, we derive the motion planning equations for dual-arm space robot manipulators, where external forces and moments are acting on both satellite and manipulator end-effectors. The proposed method has been verified by numerical simulations, and the results are presented and discussed.

Space robots will play an important role in the future space activities. On-orbit servicing, on-orbit assembly as well as active debris removal are only some of the tasks that could be accomplished using the space robots. The control systems of the space robot should be tested in order to verify the developed algorithms. Although it is difficult to conduct tests of a space robot on the Earth because of the gravity, there are several solutions that enable testing. Terrestrial-based options include parabolic flights, drop towers and planar air bearing microgravity testbeds such as the testbed possessed by the Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences (CBK PAN). This testbed is capable of testing various control systems and enables a space robot to perform complex maneuvers. The main objective of this paper is to present the upgraded testing facility. Firstly, the robotic arm of the space robot was equipped with a third kinematic pair. Secondly, new PCB boards for the main computer, joints controllers and cold-gas thrusters controller were developed. Moreover, the space robot was equipped with two stereovision cameras to detect the obstacles in the robot’s surroundings. Finally, the results of two exemplary tests carried out using the updated facility are presented.

Capture and removal of large space debris is needed to prevent the growth of the debris population in low Earth orbit. Capture of a non-cooperative object by a manipulator mounted on a chaser satellite requires collision-free trajectory of the manipulator. The obstacle vector field (OVF) method allows to solve the trajectory planning problem in difficult scenarios. The OVF method is based on a vector field that surrounds the obstacles and generates virtual forces that drive the manipulator around the obstacles. The original formulation of the OVF method allows to obtain the desired position of the gripper, but not the desired orientation. To perform the grasping manoeuvre, the gripper has to be positioned in a specific point and aligned with the grasping interface. In this paper, we propose a modification to the OVF method that allows to obtain the desired position and orientation of the gripper. Moreover, we investigate the practical applicability of the OVF method. The OVF method is demonstrated in experiments performed on a planar air-bearing microgravity simulator. The presented results prove that the OVF method can be applied for a real system operating in simulated microgravity conditions.

In-orbit capture of a non-cooperative satellite will be a major challenge in the proposed servicing and active debris removal missions. The contact forces between the manipulator end-effector and the elements of the target object will occur in the grasping phase. In this paper, an active 6 Degrees of Freedom (DoF) force/torque control method for manipulator mounted on a free-floating servicing satellite is proposed. The main aim of the presented method is to balance the relation between end-effector position and force along each direction in the Cartesian space. The control law is based on the Dynamic Jacobian, which takes into account the influence of the manipulator motion on the state of the servicing satellite. The proposed approach is validated in numerical simulations with a simplified model of contact. Comparison with the classical Cartesian control shows that the active 6 DoF force/torque control method allows to obtain better positioning accuracy of the end-effector and lower control torques in manipulator joints in the presence of external forces.