Research and Development of Reconfigurable Brachiating Space Robots

Abstract

This paper presents a summary of the system of Reconfigurable Brachiating Space Robot. The robot consists of a center hub and three 6 degree-of-freedom arms with an end-effector and a pivot, which has a reconfigurable mechanism, for each arm. This space robot is capable of moving over the Japanese Experimental Module of the International Space Station in a brachiating manner and also of arm reconfiguration according to the various task requirements. This paper discusses the mechanisms of the arm module, the end-effector and the docking element in detail, and also focuses on the fundamental concept of controllers' system as well as the communication system of the RBR.