Experimental evaluation of force control for virtual-fixture-assisted teleoperation for on-orbit manipulation of satellite thermal blanket insulation

The ability to refuel satellites on-orbit using teleoperated robots could extend the life of satellite missions, potentially saving time and resources for both industry and space agencies. One critical step in the refueling process is to gain access to the satellite's fueling port by cutting through a seam of tape that adheres two sections of multi-layer insulation (MLI) covering the satellite body. The deformable, delicate, specular nature of the metalized tape used to adhere sections of MLI to one another makes cutting the tape seams a difficult task to perform remotely, a difficulty that is compounded by unavoidable multi-second communications delays. Virtual-fixture-assisted teleoperation can help mitigate some of these issues by constraining the motion of the cutting blade based on a priori knowledge of the task. Adding force control may further assist teleoperators by automatically setting a desired normal cutting force. This paper presents the results of a 20-participant user study for a representative satellite tape-cutting task, showing that force control based on a virtual fixture mapped to the MLI blanket plane can decrease both tape bunching and operator workload.