Berthing Manipulation by a Space Robotic Arm with Consideration of Joint Flexibility

In this paper, the vibration of a space robotic arm with joint flexibility is discussed. Considering manipulability of the robotic arm, the berthing manipulation may cause flexible vibration due to joint elasticity. Since the natural frequency of the robotic arm changes according to its configuration changes, there is a possibility of resonance between the arm vibration and the flexible paddle vibration, and the disturbances caused by the arm vibration have influence on the satellite attitude. The authors evaluate the arm vibration during the berthing manipulations through both the data analyses of berthing experiments and the simulations.