ICRA11 Space Robotics Workshop

 

2011 International Conference on Robotics and Automation

Shanghai, China

Friday, 13 May 2011 (full day)

 

Abstract

 

With the recent and planned delivery of sophisticated manipulation systems to the International Space Station (e.g. Dextre and Robonaut2), we are entering a new period of on-orbit robotics. Also, NASA plans are moving from lunar surface exploration, to other mission types such as near-Earth object visits which will require robotic precursors and assistants in low gravity.  Even surface missions, roving or stationary, are projected to require more capable manipulation with sample acquisition and containerization.  Finally, global access of some targets (e.g. Venus and Titan) requires the use of autonomous airships, while subsurface access of others (e.g. Europa, Mars) require the use of autonomous melt probes and drills.

 

This full day workshop will bring together researchers and spaceflight implementers to discuss recent or planned results in these areas of robotic space exploration.  Technical topics to be addressed include manipulation in low gravity for interaction with man-made structures or natural environments, in-space assembly, planetary aerial mobility, planetary subsurface access, sampling and sample handling, and system design and architecture.  Core technologies include rendezvous and docking, sensing in harsh environments, novel manipulation system designs, computation-restricted software performance, power-restricted system performance, and telemetry-restricted remote commanding. 

 

Organizer:  

 

Richard Volpe

Mobility and Robotic Systems

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

California Institute of Technology

Pasadena, CA 91109 USA

volpe@jpl.nasa.gov

https://www-robotics.jpl.nasa.gov

 

 

Motivation and Objective:

 

While space robotics is an extremely costly endeavor, there is a relatively small part of the mainstream robotics community involved in this arena.  Many reasons exist for this reality, but one of the issues is a lack of engagement with the community on the relevant issues driving the scientific and technical objectives, or acting as obstacles to progress.  Such lack of appreciation can also exist within the space robotics community itself, where different mission constraints are unique and consume all attention away from similar problems and endeavors elsewhere.  For instance, solutions for orbital or planetary missions seem very similar as robotics problems, but other realities including cost, communication distances, thermal and radiation environments, planetary motions, and target system usage, can all lead to drastically different solutions. 

 

Therefore, it is highly desirable to have an unhurried, detailed, technical exchange between space robotics system developers.  Such an exchange is intended not to look like simply another, invited session in a conference full of sessions.  Rather the intent is to allow for much longer and more detailed presentations, with time for insightful comments and questions from others building or operating similar systems, or wanting to learn more about this field.  It is for this reason a full day is requested.

 

Also, by having some presentations by speakers from previous versions of this workshop, there is a chance to review progress or new directions, both locally to an institution or country, as well as across the field.   To complement these mainstream participants, there is also a desire to have presentations on newer novel ideas, or related research that has not been represented in the past meetings.

 

Appropriate topics for discussion include:

a.     Orbital manipulation for satellite serving or structure assembly.

b.     Low gravity in situ manipulation for sampling or resource utilization.

c.      Orbital rendezvous and docking.

d.     Airships for Titan or Venus.

e.     Subsurface access systems such as intelligent melt probes or drills.

f.       System design and software integration.

g.     Command and control with limited bandwidth.

h.     Field tests on Earth or in space.

 

 

List of Presenters

 

 

Presenter

Org

Country

Topic

abs

talk

video

image

1

Richard Volpe

NASA-JPL

USA

Introduction & JPL Robotics

A

T

I

2

Rob Ambrose

NASA-JSC

USA

Robonaut 2

A

T

V

I

3

Rainer Krenn

DLR

Germany

Satellite Docking

A

T

V

I

 

coffee

 

 

4

Maxime Chalon

DLR

Germany

ROCKVISS and DEXHAND

A

T

I

5

Hiroshi Ueno

JAXA

Japan

JEMRMS

A

T

I

6

Takashi Kubota

JAXA

Japan

Advanced Probes

A

T

I

 

lunch

 

 

7

Glen Henshaw

NRL

USA

Hybrid AI/Control Systems

A

T

I

8

Kazuya Yoshida

Tohoku Univ

Japan

Mobility on Slopes

A

T

I

9

Brent Tweddle

MIT

USA

SPHERES VERTIGO

A

T

V

I

 

coffee

 

 

10

Sarmad Aziz

ESA / CSA

Canada

European Robot Arm

A

T

I

11

Yu Liu

Harbin Inst. of Tech.

China

Arm Parameter Identification

A

T

I

 

 

 

 

discussion

 

 

 

 

 

 

A list of all workshop participants is available.

 

 

Relation to Previous Workshops:

 

There have been similar workshops at IROS ‘97, and ICRA ’05, ’07, ’08, and ‘10. 

For details, see

https://ewh.ieee.org/conf/icra/2010/workshops/PlanetaryRovers/

https://ewh.ieee.org/conf/icra/2008/workshops/PlanetaryRovers/

https://ewh.ieee.org/conf/icra/2007/workshops/SpaceRobotics/

https://ewh.ieee.org/conf/ras2005/workshops/PlanetaryRovers/index.html 

https://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~mwm/rover/iros97.html