Self-assembly in space via self-reconfigurable robots

Author

Shen, Wei-Min ; Will, Peter ; Khoshnevis, Bernk

Author_Institution

Univ. of Southern California, Marina del Rey, CA, USA

Volume

2

fYear

2003

fDate

14-19 Sept. 2003

Firstpage

2516

Abstract

Self-assembly systems in space are arguably within the reach of today\´s technology based on the research and development of self-reconfigurable robots on earth. This paper presents an approach to self-assembly in space by developing: (1) a novel design for intelligent and reconfigurable components; (2) the free-flying "intelligent fiber/rope" "match-maker" robots with self-reconfigurable and self-adjustable tethering for autonomous docking; and (3) a totally distributed control method for planning, executing, and monitoring the assembly process. These approaches are partially evaluated by a set of experimental and simulation results to simulate the dynamics and control of free-flying objects in zero-gravity environment.

Keywords

aerospace robotics; distributed control; intelligent robots; planning (artificial intelligence); self-adjusting systems; zero gravity experiments; assembly monitoring; assembly planning; assembly process executing; autonomous docking; distributed control method; flying robot; free flying objects; intelligent components; intelligent fiber; intelligent rope; match maker robots; reconfigurable components; research and development; self-adjustable tethering; self-assembly systems; self-reconfigurable robots; space robot; zero gravity environment; Distributed control; Earth; Intelligent robots; Monitoring; Orbital robotics; Process planning; Research and development; Robotic assembly; Self-assembly; Space technology;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Robotics and Automation, 2003. Proceedings. ICRA '03. IEEE International Conference on

ISSN

1050-4729

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7736-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ROBOT.2003.1241971

Filename

1241971