Application of a traction-drive seven-degrees-of-freedom telerobot to space manipulation

The Space Station Program marks a new era in space exploration and habitation. To meet the challenges of this new era, more extensive use of remote manipulation and robotics is expected. This paper describes a new space telerobot concept which addresses both teleoperations and robotics needs of future space programs, while merging the desirable characteristics of both technologies. This new concept is based on knowledge and experience gained from manipulator systems developed to meet the needs of remote nuclear applications. It merges desirable characteristics of teleoperation and robotic technologies. Presented here are design goals for the telerobot, a description of the mechanical and control abilities, and applications for earth and space. The concept incorporates mechanical traction drives, redundant kinematics, and modular arm subelements to provide a backlash-free manipulator capable of obstacle avoidance. Further development of this telerobot is in progress at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.