Redundant manipulators for momentum compensation in a micro-gravity environment

This paper is concerned with the implementation and assessment of joint motion management strategies for kinematically redundant robotic manipulators operating in the micro-gravity environment of Space Station. These robots must be capable of conducting experiments and manufacturing processes without disturbing the micro-gravity environment through base reactions/motions. The redundant degrees of freedom of the manipulator permit the inverse kinematic problem to be solved simultaneously with the minimization of a cost function. The cost function in this case is the weighted sum of the squares of the base forces and moments and is minimized over discrete time segments. The Generalized Inverse Method and Rayleigh Ritz technique are used to solve the combined optimization/inverse kinematics problem. Numerical examples include various robotic configurations and degrees of manipulator redundancy.