Precise EV robot: flight model and telerobotic operation for ETS-VII

This paper presents the development and telerobotic operation of the ARH (Advanced Robotic Hand System) which will be the world's first precise extravehicular robot aboard the ETS-VII (Engineering Test Satellite VII). Objectives of the space test are to demonstrate the feasibility of a multiDOF multisensory hand for precise tasks under the severe extravehicular condition of space and to evaluate telerobot operation technology from the ground under the conditions of limited information from space with time delay. The concept of the space test and flight model development for the space-work system consisting of a hand, mini-arm and task board are presented, A precise space telerobotic architecture with a dual-loop structure is proposed and applied to the ARH for precise in-orbit servicing. Desktop telerobotic techniques including interactive telesensing and a virtual hypercamera utilizing multisensors are described.