Int-Ball: Crew-Supportive Autonomous Mobile Camera Robot on ISS/JEM

Abstract

This paper describes the development of The Japanese Experiment Module (called JEM) Internal Ball Camera (called Int-Ball) that autonomously moves inside the JEM pressurization section and shoots image and video of the object. The Int-Ball was launched as a payload of Dragon spacecraft by SpaceX Falcon 9 on June 4, 2017. First flight control demonstration was successfully conducted in JEM pressurization section. This paper also describes the initial checkout result.