Dynamic manipulability measure for on-orbit manipulation by frictional contacts

Abstract

Due to unilateral constraints of frictional contacts and the dynamic coupling phenomenon, the study on the unfixed manipulation through frictional contacts for multi-arm space robots is few carried out. This paper proposes a new measure method to assess the dynamic manipulability of the unfixed manipulation through frictional contacts. In particular, the explicit map from the base actuation and joint torques to the object acceleration, the base acceleration, and the internal force is formulated under unilateral constraints of frictional contacts. Considering typical control scenarios of both free-floating and free-flying systems, dynamic manipulabilities are derived separately. As an illustrative example, the dynamic manipulability of a planar dual-arm space robot is computed and reported, which visualizes the influence of different system parameters.