Research on the Satellite On-Orbit Self-Servicing Testbed.

The paper puts forward the concept of the Satellite On-Orbit Self-Servicing (SOOSS), which can correct the malfunctions of deployable appendages of satellites on-orbit by a on-board robot system. In order to verify this concept, a ground testbed has been presented; a robot system composed of a 4-d.o.f. manipulator and an end-effector mounted on the satellite are designed to accomplish the above operations. The main features of the robot system are mechatronics, multi-sensors and intelligent control. The structure of the modular joint is introduced in detail. The multi-finger dexterous HIT/DLR Hand is employed as the end-effector. In the SOOSS, the robot system is controlled through remote teleoperation. The virtual environment of the SOOSS has been built and experiments have been carried out to verify the feasibility of the SOOSS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]