NASA Technical Memorandum 100898 Microgravity Robotics Technology Program

A research program t o deve lop techno logy for r o b o t s o p e r a t i n g i n t h e m i c r o g r a v i t y e n v i r o n ment o f t h e space s t a t i o n l a b o r a t o r y i s desc r ibed . These r o b o t s must be capab le o f manipul a t i n g pay loads w i t h o u t caus ing them t o exper ience ha rmfu l l e v e l s o f a c c e l e r a t i o n , and t h e mo t ion o f t hese r o b o t s must n o t d i s t u r b a d j a c e n t exper iments and o p e r a t i o n s by t r a n s m i t t i n g r e a c t i o n s t h a t t r a n s l a t e i n t o damaging r e a c t i o n s th roughou t t h e l a b o r a t o r y . S o l u t i o n s t o these prob lems, based on b o t h mechanism techno logy and c o n t r o l s t r a t e g i e s , a r e d i scussed . Methods a r e p resen ted f o r r e d u c t i o n o f r o b o t base r e a c t i o n s th rough the use o f redundant degrees o f f reedom, and t h e development o f smooth ly o p e r a t i n g r o l l e r d r i v e n r o b o t j o i n t s f o r m i c r o g r a v i t y m a n i p u l a t o r s i s d iscussed.