Internal Automation and Robotics Testbed

The testbed has been established:

•  to demonstrate the benefits of Automation and Robotics (A&R) for payload operations and for familiarizing potential users, payload engineers and operators with A&R.
•  to provide a development and testing environment  for A&R technology

The Testbed features a series of payload mockups that can be operated by a central robot system. The operation of the robot follows the "Interactive Autonomy" control scheme. The testbed has been used for

• Controller HW/SW development and test, including local force feedback control laws to handle uncertainty in environment and comply with micro-g requirements (SPARCO, CESAR).
• Development of a Calibration technique to minimize errors induced by mechanical/structural difference between design and implementation (Resulting in major Spin-off: Krypton, is now one of the leading player in the industrial market)
• Ground Station development environment to remotely plan/verify the robotic activity before executing it, and to monitor it during its execution (DREAMS, TELEMAN). Validated in 1999 during the Vision & Interactive Autonomy Bi-Lateral Experiments (VIABLE) executed in cooperation with NASDA in the frame of ETS-VII satellite flight.