Design and Development of a Computer Assisted Ground Control Technique for Space Station Robotics

Abstract

Recent design activities for the International Space Station have included studies of the operations and productivity of the U.S. Laboratory module. A major finding was that the most 1 imi ted resource on the Station will be crew time. A ground-controlled robot has been proposed by Teledyne Brown Engineering that will help alleviate these constraints and allow around-the-clock U.S. Laboratory operations. However, the ground contra l of a mechanism in Earth orbit imposes command and feedback delays because of the distance and communicat i ans network involved. A unique predictive display for use by the ground operator in the presence of varying time delays has been developed and tested and has reduced the 11 move-and-wait 11 task times normally associated with delayed feedback teleoperations, minimized operator training, and reduced downlink bandwidth required.