Lightweight Arm Operations for Planetary Sample Return

Lightweight Arm Operations for Planetary Sample Return

Barnes, David Preston; Tyler, Laurence; McMahon, Paul

Date: 2011-05-05

Abstract:

The Beagle 2 robotic arm was studied to evaluate its suitability as a basis for the design of a lightweight instrument deployment arm for a future planetary rover mission. Newly developed circuitry allowed the arm to be driven in ways it had not been used previously. In particular, joint interpolated motion for straight-line trajectories was demonstrated. The repeatability of instrument positioning was found to be within 0.5 mm. Angular positioning of instruments was subject to larger errors (up to 4.5°), mainly due to known issues with bevel gears on the last two joints. This can easily be remedied without extensive re-design, making the arm highly suitable for a rover mission. In order to take full advantage of the capabilities of the arm, a calibrated physical deflection model will be required to replace the current kinematics model.

Description:

Tyler, L., Barnes, D., McMahon, P., 'Lightweight Arm Operations for Planetary Sample Return'. Proceedings of the 10th International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence Robotics and Automation in Space, Sapporo, Japan, August 2010.

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