Robotics and mechatronics in aerospace

The paper briefly addresses DLR's (German Aerospace Center) expertise in space robotics by hand of corresponding milestone projects including systems on the International Space Station (ISS). It then discusses the key technologies needed for the development of an artificial "robonaut" generation with mechatronic ultralight weight arms and multifingered hands. The third arm generation is nearly finished now, approaching the limits of what is technologically achievable today with respect to light-weight and power losses. In a similar way DLR's second generation of artificial 4-fingered hands was a big step towards higher reliability, manipulability and overall performance.