A Robotic Testbed for Positioning and Attitude Accuracy Test of Space Manipulator

Abstract

In this paper, a novel testing method for on-ground test of space manipulator is introduced. The configurations of the testbed and the manipulator are described in detail. To accomplish the test of three-dimensional movement, a modified testbed using air-bearings is designed. By adopting the two-step testing method, which is presented in this paper, the three-dimensional positioning accuracy and the three-dimensional attitude accuracy of the space manipulator can be measured. The main idea of this method is to divide a three-dimensional movement into two planar movements, which can be performed on the testbed. The equations of data processing are deduced. The analysis shows that the mentioned testing method is practical for the research of space manipulators