Project Title:

Mini-Robotic-Arm System for IVA Experiment Servicing

92-1-05.03-9570                                                    NAS07-1226
Mini-Robotic-Arm System for IVA Experiment
     Servicing
Robotics Research Corporation
P.O. Box 206
Amelia, OH  45102
Keith A. Kowalski                                    (513-831-9570)

Abstract:

     Miniature robotic manipulator systems, designed to automate
repetitive experiment tending and similar IVA servicing duties
aboard Space Station Freedom, could increase crew efficiency
during astronaut-tended operations and provide a means to maintain
experiments remotely from Earth. Articulated manipulators,
approximately 500-700 millimeters in length, are envisioned to
work at fixed locations in the laboratory module and support
material and life science experiments. Although intended only for
IVA applications, this new class of mini-robots must be designed
in a form suitable for flight-qualification, with a basic design
which affords lightweight and low-power requirements, and which
incorporates those features demanded by NASA safety and
reliability standards. This project aims to develop and
demonstrate a mini-robotic-arm system which meets the functional
requirements for IVA experiment tending in the laboratory module
and employs a design that could be flight-qualified. Since
different levels of dexterity may be needed for different
installations, the system will be designed to be configurable,
such that a family of arms--number of joints and kinematic
arrangement--can be assembled from the same set of qualified
modules to fit specific experiment requirements.

Potential Commercial Application:

Potential Commercial Applications:  This research will expand the
use of laboratory robots and teleoperators in tending biological
experiments and processing pharmaceuticals on Earth; provide
automation of routine servicing tasks (greenhouse tending, animal
specimen cage servicing) and production tasks in controlled
environments; and provide teleoperated manipulation and inspection
of hazardous biological specimens and chemical samples in
quarantined environments.

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