Path Planning and Control for AERCam, a Free-flying Inspection Robot in Space

Abstract

This paper describes a prototype robot and the necessary path planning and control for space inspection applications. The robot is the first generation of a free-flying robotic camera that will assist astronauts in constructing and maintaining the Space Station. The robot will provide remote views to astronauts inside the Space Shuttle and future Space Station, and to ground controllers. The first part of the paper describes a planar robot prototype autonomously moving about an air bearing table. The second part of this paper describes the path planning method for the three-dimensional path planner and describes the software simulation of the path planner with the future space station.