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Recent Trends and Advances on Space Robot
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Recent Trends and Advances on Space Robot

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Sensors and Robotics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 June 2023) | Viewed by 9430

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Jinxiu Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518038, China
Interests: space robot
Prof. Dr. Zhongjie Meng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Astronautics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China
Interests: dynamic and control; mission planning of space robot; operation on-orbit; advanced control of tethered spacecraft
Prof. Dr. Dong Ye

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Center of Satellite Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
Interests: spacecraft dynamics and control; space robot; guidance, navigation and control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Wenbo Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Beijing Institute of Control Engineering, National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Space Intelligent Control, Beijing 100094, China
Interests: evaluation and design of diagnosability and reconfigurability; autonomous fault diagnosis and control of spacecraft

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, space robots have developed rapidly, which play a particularly important role in unmanned and manned space science exploration activities to achieve space automation and intelligent control. International space station in-cabin robots, space robotic arms and other orbital robots have been widely practical applications. Many universities and research institutions have a lot of research in space robots including target grasping and removal, on-orbit service maintenance, space on-orbit assembly and scientific exploration, etc.

This Special Issue aims to publish studies covering the applications and technology of space robots. Topics may cover the results of past missions, the design of future missions or the technology related to space robots development. We would like to invite you to submit articles about your recent research on topics including but not limited to those listed below (review articles covering one or more of these topics are also very welcome).

  • Space robotic arms
  • Space in-cabin robots
  • Space bionic soft robots
  • Flexible front gripper for space robots
  • AI technology application in space robots
  • Intelligent perception and measurement of space robots
  • Novel concepts for space robots, such as reconfigurable space robots, self-replication space robots, etc.
  • Innovative control algorithm of space robots, such as coordinated control of a dual-arm space robot and compliance control of space robots, etc.

Prof. Dr. Jinxiu Zhang
Dr. Zhongjie Meng
Prof. Dr. Dong Ye
Dr. Wenbo Li
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • space robot
  • on-orbit service
  • soft robotic
  • flexible capture
  • intelligent perception
  • dynamics and control

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 8520 KiB  
Article
A High-Certainty Visual Servo Control Method for a Space Manipulator with Flexible Joints
by Tao Yang, Fang Xu, Shoujun Zhao, Tongtong Li, Zelin Yang, Yanbo Wang and Yuwang Liu
Sensors 2023, 23(15), 6679; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23156679 - 26 Jul 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1225
Abstract
This paper introduces a novel high-certainty visual servo algorithm for a space manipulator with flexible joints, which consists of a kinematic motion planner and a Lyapunov dynamics model reference adaptive controller. To enhance kinematic certainty, a three-stage motion planner is proposed in Cartesian [...] Read more.
This paper introduces a novel high-certainty visual servo algorithm for a space manipulator with flexible joints, which consists of a kinematic motion planner and a Lyapunov dynamics model reference adaptive controller. To enhance kinematic certainty, a three-stage motion planner is proposed in Cartesian space to control the intermediate states and minimize the relative position error between the manipulator and the target. Moreover, a planner in joint space based on the fast gradient descent algorithm is proposed to optimize the joint’s deviation from the centrality. To improve dynamic certainty, an adaptive control algorithm based on Lyapunov stability analysis is used to enhance the system’s anti-disturbance capability. As to the basic PBVS (position-based visual servo methods) algorithm, the proposed method aims to increase the certainty of the intermediate states to avoid collision. A physical experiment is designed to validate the effectiveness of the algorithm. The experiment shows that the visual servo motion state in Cartesian space is basically consistent with the planned three-stage motion state, the average joint deviation index from the centrality is less than 40%, and the motion trajectory consistency exceeds 90% under different inertial load disturbances. Overall, this method reduces the risk of collision by enhancing the certainty of the basic PBVS algorithm. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Trends and Advances on Space Robot)
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13 pages, 5697 KiB  
Communication
A 3D Anisotropic Thermomechanical Model for Thermally Induced Woven-Fabric-Reinforced Shape Memory Polymer Composites
by Yingyu Wang, Zhiyi Wang, Jia Ma, Chao Luo, Guangqiang Fang and Xiongqi Peng
Sensors 2023, 23(14), 6455; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23146455 - 17 Jul 2023
Viewed by 1120
Abstract
Soft robotic grippers offer great advantages over traditional rigid grippers with respect to grabbing objects with irregular or fragile shapes. Shape memory polymer composites are widely used as actuators and holding elements in soft robotic grippers owing to their finite strain, high specific [...] Read more.
Soft robotic grippers offer great advantages over traditional rigid grippers with respect to grabbing objects with irregular or fragile shapes. Shape memory polymer composites are widely used as actuators and holding elements in soft robotic grippers owing to their finite strain, high specific strength, and high driving force. In this paper, a general 3D anisotropic thermomechanical model for woven fabric-reinforced shape memory polymer composites (SMPCs) is proposed based on Helmholtz free energy decomposition and the second law of thermodynamics. Furthermore, the rule of mixtures is modified to describe the stress distribution in the SMPCs, and stress concentration factors are introduced to account for the shearing interaction between the fabric and matrix and warp yarns and weft yarns. The developed model is implemented with a user material subroutine (UMAT) to simulate the shape memory behaivors of SMPCs. The good consistency between the simulation results and experimental validated the proposed model. Furthermore, a numerical investigation of the effects of yarn orientation on the shape memory behavior of the SMPC soft gripper was also performed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Trends and Advances on Space Robot)
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19 pages, 6953 KiB  
Communication
Adaptive Control for Gravitational Wave Detection Formation Considering Time-Varying Communication Delays
by Yu Zhang, Yuan Liu, Juzheng Zhang, Zhenkun Lu and Jikun Yang
Sensors 2023, 23(6), 3003; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23063003 - 10 Mar 2023
Viewed by 1698
Abstract
A distributed six-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) cooperative control for multiple spacecraft formation is investigated considering parametric uncertainties, external disturbances, and time-varying communication delays. Unit dual quaternions are used to describe the kinematics and dynamics models of the 6-DOF relative motion of the spacecraft. A distributed [...] Read more.
A distributed six-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) cooperative control for multiple spacecraft formation is investigated considering parametric uncertainties, external disturbances, and time-varying communication delays. Unit dual quaternions are used to describe the kinematics and dynamics models of the 6-DOF relative motion of the spacecraft. A distributed coordinated controller based on dual quaternions with time-varying communication delays is proposed. The unknown mass and inertia, as well as unknown disturbances, are then taken into account. An adaptive coordinated control law is developed by combining the coordinated control algorithm with an adaptive algorithm to compensate for parametric uncertainties and external disturbances. The Lyapunov method is used to prove that the tracking errors converge globally asymptotically. Numerical simulations show that the proposed method can realize cooperative control of attitude and orbit for the multi-spacecraft formation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Trends and Advances on Space Robot)
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21 pages, 4217 KiB  
Article
Non-Contact Measurement and Identification Method of Large Flexible Space Structures in Low Characteristic Scenes
by Tianming Cheng, Xiaolei Jiao, Zeming Zhang, Qiang Bi and Cheng Wei
Sensors 2023, 23(4), 1878; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23041878 - 7 Feb 2023
Viewed by 2231
Abstract
The end-operation accuracy of the satellite-borne robotic arm is closely related to the satellite attitude control accuracy, and the influence of the vibration of the satellite’s flexural structure on the satellite attitude control is not negligible. Therefore, a stable and reliable vibration frequency [...] Read more.
The end-operation accuracy of the satellite-borne robotic arm is closely related to the satellite attitude control accuracy, and the influence of the vibration of the satellite’s flexural structure on the satellite attitude control is not negligible. Therefore, a stable and reliable vibration frequency identification method of the satellite flexural structure is needed. Different from the traditional non-contact measurement and identification methods of large flexible space structures based on marker points or edge corner points, the condition of non-marker points relying on texture features can identify more feature points, but there are problems such as low recognition and poor matching of features. Given this, the concept of ‘the comprehensive matching parameter’ of scenes is proposed to describe the scene characteristics of non-contact optical measurement from the two dimensions of recognition and matching. The basic connotation and evaluation index of the concept are also given in the paper. Guided by this theory, the recognition accuracy and matching uniqueness of features can be improved by means of equivalent spatial transformation and novel relative position relationship descriptor. The above problems in non-contact measurement technology can be solved only through algorithm improvement without adding hardware devices. On this basis, the Eigensystem Realization Algorithm (ERA) method is used to obtain the modal parameters of the large flexible space structure. Finally, the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method are verified by mathematical simulation and ground testing. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Trends and Advances on Space Robot)
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14 pages, 6188 KiB  
Article
An Improved DDPG and Its Application in Spacecraft Fault Knowledge Graph
by Xiaoyu Xing, Shuyi Wang and Wenjing Liu
Sensors 2023, 23(3), 1223; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23031223 - 20 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2124
Abstract
We construct a spacecraft performance-fault relationship graph of the control system, which can help space robots locate and repair spacecraft faults quickly. In order to improve the performance-fault relationship graph, we improve the Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) algorithm, and propose a relationship [...] Read more.
We construct a spacecraft performance-fault relationship graph of the control system, which can help space robots locate and repair spacecraft faults quickly. In order to improve the performance-fault relationship graph, we improve the Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) algorithm, and propose a relationship prediction method that combines representation learning reasoning with deep reinforcement learning reasoning. We take the spacecraft performance-fault relationship graph as the agent learning environment and adopt reinforcement learning to realize the optimal interaction between the agent and the environment. Meanwhile, our model uses a deep neural network to construct a complex value function and strategy function, which makes the agent have excellent perceptual decision-making ability and accurate value judgment ability. We evaluate our model on a performance-fault relationship graph of the control system. The experimental results show that our model has high prediction speed and accuracy, which can completely infer the optimal relationship path between entities to complete the spacecraft performance-fault relationship graph. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Trends and Advances on Space Robot)
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