There are many tasks to be conducted in space such as building and operation of the international space station, inspection and repair of orbiting satellites, and conducting lunar/planetary explorations. Astronauts currently conduct some of these tasks. However most of these tasks are highly risky and expensive. Therefore space robot becomes attractive tool to conduct these tasks. However, if an astronaut onboard spacecraft such as the shuttle or the space station operates the robot, utilization of the robot is limited by the limitation of the available hours of the astronauts. Therefore, NASDA started development of the second-generation space robot[1], which is controlled from the ground. NASDA launched an engineering test satellite named ETS-VII on November 28, 1997 to conduct the rendezvous docking and the second-generation space robot technology experiments [2]-[4]. This paper shows an overview of the ETS-VII project and the space robot experiment results gained by ETS-VII.

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In this paper, we will describe the results of our truss structure tele-manipulation experiments on the ETS-7 (Engineering Test Satellite 7), that have been done from March 1998. The purpose of our experiment is to establish the basic tele-robotics technologies for on-orbit truss manipulation that was thought as rather sophisticated and also too small size for the current space robots, such as the space shuttle robot arm and the international space station robot arm.

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The construction of large and precise antennas is one of the most important challenges in the development of space infrastructures. Using robots is an effective method for constructing very large and precise antennas in space. The Communication Research Laboratory (CRL) developed an antenna designed to be assembled in space for use in future space communication infrastructures and has been studying teleoperation technologies for controlling space robots. The initial experiments for testing the assembly of this antenna in space are being conducted using Engineering Test Satellite VII (ETS-VII), which was launched in November 1997. ETS-VII, which is the first robotic satellite, was developed by the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA); it is equipped with six-DOF manipulators and antenna-assembling mechanisms developed by the CRL. Here, we briefly describe these experiments, including master-slave experiments using space robots, and our evaluation of the audio feedback system, which uses an eye-mark recorder.

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This paper presents the overview of a space test of the world's first precise extravehicular telerobotic system named ARH (the Advanced Robotic Hand system). It was boarded on Engineering Testing Satellite VII (ETS-VII) developed by NASDA, and was launched into low-earth orbit in November 1997. MITI/ETL has been conducting the researches on a precise telerobotic system. This time MITI along with the Institute for Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer (USEF) have developed the ARH system and carried out the space experiment on ETS-VII to prepare the robot technologies for efficient industrial utilization of space in the near future. The objectives of the ARH space experiments are to evaluate the capability of the semidexterous robot hand for executing precise and delicate tasks and to validate the related technologies implemented in the system, which are multi-sensory, multi-DOF, and multi-finger control. Almost all of the experiments were carried out successfully and the results of them were found to be the expected ones.

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