Design and Operation of a Gripper for a Berthing Task-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

Design and Operation of a Gripper for a Berthing Task

Published:2023-06-28 Issue:4 Volume:8 Page:82
ISSN:2411-5134
Container-title:Inventions
language:en
Short-container-title:Inventions

Author:

Titov Alexander¹^ORCID,Russo Matteo¹^ORCID,Ceccarelli Marco¹^ORCID

Affiliation:

1. LARM2 Laboratory of Robot Mechatronics, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy

Abstract

The idea of an extension of life for CubeSats is proposed to reduce space debris in a low-earth orbit. In this work, a gripper is designed for geometry-based grasping in berthing tasks. The grasping operation is outlined for square- and rectangle-shaped CubeSats. Equilibrium conditions are formulated to design the fingertips’ shape and parameters for grasping CubeSat bodies. A design scheme is proposed to provide the required accuracy. A design concept is developed into a lab prototype by using low-cost 3D printing manufacturing, and a mock-up grasping task that is representative of the berthing operation is evaluated with the lab prototype. Center-mass hanging setup for the prototype and grasped body is used to evaluate the impact of grasping, partially replicating the conditions in space by reducing the effect of gravity on the system.

Publisher

MDPI AG

Subject

General Engineering

Link

https://www.mdpi.com/2411-5134/8/4/82/pdf

Reference29 articles.

1. Collision Frequency of Artificial Satellites: The Creation of a Debris Belt;Kessler;J. Geophys. Res.,1978

2. ESA Space Debris Office (2022). ESA’s Annual Space Environment Report, ESA ESOC.

3. Economic Value Analysis of On-Orbit Servicing for Geosynchronous Communication Satellites;Liu;Acta Astronaut.,2021

4. Laryssa, P., Lindsay, E., Layi, O., Marius, O., Nara, K., Aris, L., and Ed, T. (2002, January 19–21). International Space Station Robotics: A Comparative Study of ERA, JEMRMS and MSS. Proceedings of the 7th ESA Workshop on Advanced Space Technologies for Robotics and Automation, “ASTRA 2002”, Noordwijk, The Netherlands.

5. Kuwao, F., Otsuka, A., Hayashi, M., Aiko, Y., Wakabayashi, Y., Sato, N., and Doi, S. (2003, January 19–23). Operation Concept of JEMRMS. Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space: I-SAIRAS 2003, Nara, Japan.