Teleoperation system of ETS-VII robot experiment satellite

Tasks to be performed in space will increase in near future such as assembly of the space station, exploration of lunar and Mars surface, repair of failed satellites in orbit. Space robots which can be teleoperated from a ground control station are desired to conduct these tasks. National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) is to launch an engineering test satellite named ETS-VII to conduct rendezvous docking and space robot technologies experiments for the above future missions. ETS-VII satellite has 6-DOF robot arm of about 2 m long which will be teleoperated from an on-ground control station in Japan. This paper describes the teleoperation system of the ETS-VII robot arm