POSITIONING BEAM RIDER MODULE FOR ARTICULATED ROBOT MANIPULATOR (ARM)

THE ARTICULATED ROBOT MANIPULATOR (ARM) IS A LIGHTWEIGHT FLEXABLE ARM CAPABLE OF QUICKLY AND ACCURATELY POSITIONING ALOAD OF 100 KILOGRAMS OVER A TEN METER RADIUS. ARM WILL USEMIXED LASER AND BEAM POSITIONING AND COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS TO INTERNALLY SENSE THE EFFECTOR POSITIONS. ARM WILL BE CONSTRUCTED OF SEGMENTS AND ARTICULATIONS. SEGMENTS WILL BELONG, THIN, FLEXABLE, AND INTERCHANGABLE; THEY MAY TELESCOPEOR ROTATE. THE ARTICULATIONS WILL CONSIST OF A HEAD CONTAINING THE POSITIONING SENSORS, MOTOR, CONTROL, AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS AND A PLATFORM WITH THE EFFECTOR SYSTEMS. THE OBJECTIVES OF PHASE I ARE TO PROTOTYPE A LASERBEAM RIDER MODULE (BRM) POSITIONING SYSTEM AND TESTBED ARM INCORPORATING THE BRM CONCEPT. THE OBJECTIVE OF PHASE II ISTO CONSTRUCT A PROTOTYPE ARM.