Designing and Validating an Adjustably-Autonomous Free-Flying Intraspacecraft Robot

摘要

[Abstract] Spacecraft robots offer the potential to increase the capability, productivity, and duration of space missions while decreasing mission risk and cost. In a research and development effort to study and demonstrate how adjustably-autonomous free-flying robots can support operations inside manned spacecraft, in particular the International Space Station (ISS), NASA developed a series of robot prototypes called Personal Satellite Assistants (PSAs). These robots are required to deal with the variability of an engineered environment occupied by humans and must quickly and safely modify their plans and “independence” as needed. To accomplish this, the robots were integrated with adjustablyautonomous control software, i.e., software for which the “level of autonomy” could be dynamically controlled depending on the situation. This software integrates state estimation, dynamic planning and robust plan execution components and is an enhanced version of autonomy software flight tested on the NASA Deep Space One spacecraft in 1999. This integrated system enabled the robots to autonomously achieve high-level goals while interacting with people, both in-situ and remotely, as well as other external stationary systems. Four of these robots have been developed, each having increased remote sensing and navigation capabilities, and tested in ground test facilities.