Robonaut 2 on the International Space Station: Status Update and Preparations for IVA Mobility

Abstract

Robotics engineers, ground controllers and International Space Station (ISS) crew have been running successful experiments using Robonaut 2 (R2) on-board the ISS for more than a year. This humanoid upper body robot continues to expand its list of achievements and its capabilities to safely demonstrate maintenance and servicing tasks while working alongside human crewmembers. The next phase of the ISS R2 project will transition from a stationary Intra Vehicular Activity (IVA) upper body using a power/data umbilical, to an IVA mobile system with legs for repositioning, a battery backpack power supply, and wireless communications. These upgrades will enable the R2 team to evaluate hardware performance and to develop additional control algorithms and control verification techniques with R2 inside the ISS in preparation for the Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) phase of R2 operations. As R2 becomes more capable in assisting with maintenance tasks, with minimal supervision, including repositioning itself to different work sites, the ISS crew will be burdened with fewer maintenance chores, leaving them more time to conduct other activities. R2's developers at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) are preparing the R2 IVA mobility hardware and software upgrades for delivery to the ISS in late 2013. This paper summarizes R2 ISS achievements to date, briefly describes the R2 IVA mobility upgrades, and discusses the R2 IVA mobility objectives and plans.

Proof of concept for a user-centered system for sharing cooperative plan knowledge over extended periods and crew changes in space-flight operations

“…The robot could then transmit this knowledge to new members of the next crew, thus providing continuity in the maintenance and transfer of knowledge. The Robonaut 2 humanoid is currently flying on the ISS [1], so such situations have a realistic future possibility.…”

“…Humanoid robots will play an increasingly important role in interaction with human crews in modern space-flight operations [1], and thus a major goal is to render these robots as useful as possible. Research in human social interaction has demonstrated that one of the unique abilities that provides the basis for human social interaction is cooperation [2].…”

A Hybrid Mapping Method with Position and Stiffness for Manipulator Teleoperation

“…Over the past decades, the bilateral teleoperation systems based on feedback sensory data have been widely used in various applications such as space robots [1,2], underwater robots [3], medical robots [4], emergency response robots [5], and etc. In these systems, an operator uses a human robot interface (master) at the local site to control a robot (slave) in the remote environment to execute a task.…”

Supervisory control of a humanoid robot in microgravity for manipulation tasks

“…Examples of manipulation tasks conducted with the R2 on orbit include soft goods manipulation (blankets, wipes), switches and knobs, and tool manipulation such as RFID readers and air flow measurement tools [10]. The lessons learned from these experiments have driven the development presented in this paper.…”