Hardware Experiments of a Truss Assembly by an Autonomous Space Learning Robot

An experimental system simulating a free-flying space robot, which has been constructed to study autonomous space robots, is addressed. The experimental system consists of a space robot model, a frictionless table system, a computer system, and a vision sensor system. The robot model is composed of two manipulators and a satellite vehicle and can move freely on a two-dimensional planar table, without friction, using air bearings. The robot model has successfully performed the automatic truss structure assembly, including many tasks, for example, manipulator berthing, component manipulation, arm trajectory control collision avoidance, assembly using force control, etc. Moreover, even if the robot fails in a task planned in advance, the robot replans the task by using reinforcement learning and obtains the task goal. The experiment demonstrates the possibility of the autonomous construction and the usefulness of space robots.