Collaborative robot and mixed reality assisted microgravity assembly for large space mechanism

Abstract Gravity balance has a great impact on the assembly and deployment experiment of the large space mechanism to achieve the perfect performance in space. Traditional gravity balance methods have their advantages in the deployment experiment, but not suitable for the assembly process which has a more stringent location requirement. This paper proposed an advanced microgravity assembly method for a large space mechanism. The architecture of the system for microgravity assembly is proposed. The collaborative robot and mixed reality (MR) are integrated into this system, which can realize human-robot collaboration assembly, improve assembly efficiency and reduce errors. The microgravity assembly is realized by the six-dimensional force sensor which makes the robot work in force control and installed at the end of the collaborative robot. The prototype system is verified in the laboratory environment, which provides a new and feasible assembly mode for intelligent collaborative assembly for large complex space products.