A Genderless Docking Mechanism with Passive Locking and High Rotation Misalignment Tolerance for Modular Space Robots

Abstract

Modular robots are gaining increasing attention in space services. The docking mechanism plays a critical role in performing self-healing and self-reconfiguration of modular robots. It is beneficial for the docking mechanism to operate with high efficiency, homogeneity and high misalignment tolerances. To meet these requirements, this paper presents a novel genderless docking mechanism. The construction of the docking mechanism is designed with features of passive locking and single-sided electromagnetic unlocking. To demonstrate the advantages of passive locking, the working processes of the axial and circumferential locking mechanisms are described in detail. Based on theoretical calculations and simulations, it is shown that the docking mechanism can provide fast connections or disconnections with a degree of translational and angular misalignment tolerances. This docking mechanism is intended for future applications in modular space robots or unstructured environment exploration robots.