Lightweight Arm Operations for Planetary Sample Return

Lightweight Arm Operations for Planetary Sample Return

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

URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2160/6705

Date: 2011-05-05

Citation:

Barnes , D P , Tyler , L & McMahon , P 2011 , ' Lightweight Arm Operations for Planetary Sample Return ' .

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.

Show full item record

Files in this item

Aside from theses and in the absence of a specific licence document on an item page, all works in Cadair are accessible under the CC BY-NC-ND Licence. AU theses and dissertations held on Cadair are made available for the purposes of private study and non-commercial research and brief extracts may be reproduced under fair dealing for the purpose of criticism or review. If you have any queries in relation to the re-use of material on Cadair, contact is@aber.ac.uk.