Host: The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
Name : [in Japanese]
Date : June 01, 2022 - June 04, 2022
On the International Space Station (ISS), astronauts are working on a variety of tasks. The space-saving environment of the ISS means that only a limited astronauts can stay on board. Therefore, the time available for astronauts’s activities is one of the most valuable resources. In the future, it will become even more important for future lunar orbit base and other human space bases.
JAXA has analyzed routine and repetitive astronauts’ tasks in the Japan Experimental Module (JEM) and are working to automate and autonomize them by IVR (Intra-Vehicular Robotics) so that the astronauts can focus on more advanced tasks. One of the routine tasks is the video shooting tasks. Int-Ball project was established with the goal of reducing the crew time for shooting tasks to zero using drone-type free-flying robot. And JEM Internal Ball Camera (Int-Ball) was launched in 2017 as first model. JAXA is now developing a second robot based on the issues learned from that launch. The second model will fly more autonomously take pictures and video shooting without crew time on various missions.
