ROTEX - The first space robot technology experiment

Abstract

End of April 93 for the first time in the history of space flight a small, multisensory robot has performed a number of prototype tasks on board a spacecraft (spacelab D" on shuttle COLUMBIA) in the most different operational modes that are feasible today, namely preprogrammed (and reprogrammed from ground), remotely controlled (teleoperated) by the astronauts using a control ball and a stereo-TV-monitor, but alsoremotely controlled from ground via the human operator as well as via machine intelligence. In these operational modes the robot successfully closed and opened connector plugs (bajonet closure), assembled structures from single parts and captured a free-floating object. - This paper focusses on the key technologies, which made this space robot technology experiment ROTEX a big success: multisensory gripper technology, local (shared autonomy) sensory feedback control concepts, and the powerful delay-compensating 3D-graphics simulation.