Abstract
The shortage of human resources on the International Space Station (ISS) is becoming a serious problem. In our previous work, a new space robot system named "Intra-Vehicular Free-Flyer System (IVFFS)" has been proposed. The IVFFS supports not only non-contact but also contact tasks during intra-vehicular activities (IVA). To accomplish such requirements, we introduced a prototype model called "Space Humming Bird" (SHB) which has a variably structured body to satisfy both safety and dexterity requirements. In this paper, to confirm the feasibility of our concept, several experiments with a developed prototype model on a planer micro-gravity simulator are executed. Point-to-point motions, docking motions against the wall, opening door tasks, and undocking motions are achieved.
