Visual Inspection System for Autonomous Robotic On-Orbit Satellite Servicing

Nowadays, within the space robotics, there is a substantial interest in achieving on-orbit satellite servicing operations autonomously. On-orbit servicing (OOS) requires ability to rendezvous and dock by an unmanned spacecraft minimizing human intervention. This paper is presented like a step in this course. In RoboticsLab, we have developed the RISANAR testbed to simulate scenarios of autonomous relative navigation between satellites using computer vision. The scenario to simulate consists on the recognition and the inspection of a satellite (target) using another autonomous satellite (chaser), which approaches the target and verifies its actual state. The methodology adopts a vision system that combines object recognition, pose estimation and tracking of an uncooperative satellite. The obtained information is used for the guidance and control of the chaser relative navigation. A visual servoing technique that controls and guides the test-bed manipulator based on a camera image fulfils this dynamic task.