3314 Experiment for Low Velocity Operation of a Space Robotic Arm
Details
We generally move the end-effector (EE) of the robotic arm in very low velocity around the target position when we transport payloads in orbit. The joints of the arm also must be rotated very slowly in such circumstance. However, the joint rotates discontinuously in very low velocity because an influence of friction at reduction gears is dominant. The discontinuous rotation of joints possibly causes vibration when the arm is operated on a flexible base or it handles a flexible payload. We investigate operation methods to avoid the discontinuous rotation by utilization of a redundant arm. The redundant arm can maintain over a certain minimum velocity although the EE moves in very low velocity. In addition, we apply Input Shaping to suppress a residual vibration of the arm induced by the operation method of maintaining the minimum velocity. In this paper, we report the experiment results of the minimum velocity maintaining operation and Input Shaping application.
