Problem
Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.
microgravity manipulation
dexterous gripper
compliant actuation
free-flying robot
contact disturbance
A Dexterous and Compliant Gripper With Soft Hydraulic Actuation for Microgravity Manipulation
career value
182K/year
🤖 AI Summary
This study addresses the limitations of existing Astrobee robotic grippers, which suffer from low degrees of freedom and struggle to achieve stable, dexterous manipulation in microgravity while inducing undesirable contact forces that perturb the free-flying base. For the first time, the authors integrate the six-degree-of-freedom compliant, hydraulically actuated two-fingered gripper DexCoHand onto the Astrobee platform. The system is validated through MuJoCo-based simulations, a standardized handrail docking procedure, and ground experiments. Results demonstrate that the proposed design significantly suppresses unintended base disturbances during commanded motions, effectively minimizes cross-axis coupling, and exhibits superior dexterous manipulation capabilities, thereby establishing a new paradigm for intelligent in-orbit robotic tasks.
📝 Abstract
Astrobee's existing one-degree-of-freedom (DOF) underactuated compliant claw gripper enables perching on the International Space Station (ISS), but provides limited capability for continuous dexterous manipulation. More complex microgravity tasks require an end-effector that can maintain stable contact while limiting disturbance to the free-flying base, since contact forces directly couple into base motion. This article presents the integration of DexCoHand, a dexterous and compliant two-finger, 6-DOF gripper, with the Astrobee free-flying robot for microgravity manipulation. The system is evaluated in MuJoCo using Astrobee's standard handrail perching sequence, including approach, perching, and subsequent pan and tilt motions. Compared with Astrobee's existing gripper, DexCoHand preserves the commanded pan and tilt motions while reducing unintended cross-axis base motion. Hardware experiments on Earth further demonstrate DexCoHand's dexterous manipulation capabilities and its potential for more adaptable intelligent manipulation tasks.
Innovation
Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.
soft hydraulic actuation
dexterous gripper
microgravity manipulation
compliant robotics
free-flying robot
🔎 Similar Papers
No similar papers found.
💼 Related Jobs
