Robotics Experimental Study for SSPS Walking and Assembly Technology

Abstract

JAXA has been studying Space Solar Power System (SSPS) concepts for several years and believes that autonomous robots will play an important role in their development. In the study, there are two types of robotics tasks required for SSPS on-orbit construction: a locomotion task and an assembly task. The locomotion task is defined as moving around on light-weight structures, while the assembly task is defined as capturing and connecting vibrating structures for assembly after self-deployment. These tasks are vital to the SSPS operation. This paper presents a strategy and experiments for the locomotion and assembly tasks using the ground testbed for SSPS on-orbit assembly developed at JAXA.