Telerobotics for space station Freedom

A discussion is presented of work in progress to define and plan the development of technologies required to provide a supervised autonomous operation (telerobotics) capability for the special purpose dexterous manipulator (SPDM) on the mobile servicing system. A telerobotics system concept is introduced, and a summary of the system requirements is given. The development methodology and the concept for a supervised autonomous robot (telerobotics) are briefly explained. The functional and physical architectures of the telerobotics system are also provided. This system will be responsible for carrying out operations such as assembly and maintenance of the US space station Freedom; loading/unloading from the shuttle; and retrieval and deployment of the shuttle, etc. The work also investigates a strawman task (operational scenario) for maintenance of the space station Freedom and briefly describes the operational scenario for changing an orbital replacement unit on the mobile servicing system