Motion estimation of an unknown rigid body rotating freely in zero gravity based on complex spectrum of position of a point on the body

Abstract

In order for a robotic system autonomously to capture an unknown rigid body rotating freely in zero gravity, it is necessary for it to detect the object's motion. This paper presents a method for estimating object motion based on position information concerning a point located on the object's surface. We assume that the object's motion is described by the superposition of the rotations with constant angular velocities. When position sensors, etc., can obtain three dimensional position information about a point on the object, we can estimate parameters describing its motion. In other words, using this method we can calculate each frequency and direction of the axes of rotation by applying a Fourier transform to a time sequence of the point's three dimensional position.