Design and Control of a Free-Floating Robot for Ground Microgravity Experiment

Yong Lin, Minghe Shan*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

In this paper, a cube shaped free-floating robot that is composed of air-bearing, high-pressure gas tank, pressure reducing valve, solenoid valve, and nozzle is designed for ground microgravity experiment of on-orbit servicing missions. The attitude of the robot is controlled by a reaction wheel and the position of the robot is controlled by eight nozzles symmetrically distributed around itself. Their thrust is calibrated using the ballistic pendulum method and verified by a pressure sensor. To be able to control the robot accurately, the moment of inertia and the position of the mass center of the robot are obtained by experiments. To control the robot tracking an arbitrary trajectory, a trajectory planning method based on quintic polynomial curve interpolation and the hysteresis control law are applied in this paper. Simulation and experimental results show that the designed free-floating robot can achieve high precision using the presented trajectory planning method and control strategy.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Mechanical System Dynamics - ICMSD 2023
EditorsXiaoting Rui, Caishan Liu
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages3943-3962
Number of pages20
ISBN (Print)9789819980475
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024
Event2nd International Conference of Mechanical System Dynamics, ICMSD 2023 - Beijing, China
Duration: 1 Sept 20235 Sept 2023

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering
ISSN (Print)2195-4356
ISSN (Electronic)2195-4364

Conference

Conference2nd International Conference of Mechanical System Dynamics, ICMSD 2023
Country/TerritoryChina
CityBeijing
Period1/09/235/09/23

Keywords

  • Control
  • Free-floating robot
  • Ground microgravity experiment
  • Trajectory planning

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