Autonomous robotic positioning umbilical system

Abstract

The work presented in this paper describes the development of an autonomous umbilical positioning system. A NASA unmanned mission will place a propellant manufacturing and nuclear facility on the surface of Mars. In the subsequent mission, a space vehicle will land within 1 km of this facility for safety reasons. A wheeled mobile robot will be used to make the umbilical connection to the nuclear facility. The mate-in umbilical plate is mounted on a Cartesian manipulator, which is installed on the mobile robot base. The mobile robot is controlled in a teleoperated mode. The operator will use vision feedback to guide the mobile base to get close to the mate-to plate. When in the local positioning zone, the control is switched to autonomous mode. The information received from ultrasonic sensors is used to identify the position of the mate-to plate and mate the umbilical plates. A successful experimentation verifies the approach.