Contact-impact dynamics simulation for space manipulator using equivalent spring-damping model

Modelling of contact dynamics is a very essential step in dynamics simulation of robotics operation on space stations, e.g. extravehicular activities, assistances, assembly and maintenance of the station, etc. This paper presents an equivalent spring-damping contact model (ESDCM) to simulate the impacts between the end-effector of space manipulator and its environment, where the contact force is calculated by the model. The ESDCM model is based on the general trend of Hertz contact law in conjunction with a hysteresis damping function. The coefficients in the model have been analyzed. Simulation has been done on multi-body optimization simulation software. The simulations show that the proposed model based on the ESDCM model can reflect the contact phase between space manipulator and free-flying target effectively.