TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT FOR A LARGE-SCALE, SPACE-BASED, COMPLIANT MANIPULATOR

THE PERFORMANCE OF LARGE-SCALE, LIGHTWEIGHT, SPACE-BASED MANIPULATORS IS CURRENTLY LIMITED BY THE AVAILABLE CONTROL SYSTEM TECHNOLOGIES. TO ACHIEVE HIGH PERFORMANCE WITH A SPACE-BASED MANIPULATOR, A CONTROL SYSTEM IS REQUIRED WHICH DOES NOT UNDERGO PERFORMANCE DEGRADATION DUE TO MANIPULATOR LINK FLEXURE. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE AREA OF COMPLIANT MANIPULATOR CONTROL HAS BEEN HINDERED BY TWO PROBLEMS: 1) LACK OF AN EFFECTIVE MEANS OF ACCURATELY MEASURING END-EFFECTOR POSITION, AND 2) INABILITY TO SOLVE THE INVERSEDYNAMIC EQUATIONS IN REAL-TIME. THE OBJECTIVE OF PHASE I IS TO DEVELOP THE BASIC TECHNOLOGY NECESSARY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A LARGE-SCALE, SPACE-BASED,COMPLIANT MANIPULATOR USING ENDPOINT FEEDBACK SYSTEM, A CONTROL LAW USING INVERSE DYNAMICS, AND THE DESIGN OF A HIGHPERFORMANCE, SINGLE BOARD COMPUTER FOR REAL-TIME IMPLEMENTATION OF INVERSE DYNAMICS.