Development of a flexible dual-arm manipulator testbed for space robotics

Describes a flexible dual-arm robot that has been developed as a testbed for the study on space robotic technologies such as flexible arm control, control of coupling vibration, control of cooperating dual arms, and teleoperation of robots with multiple arms. The robot is called ADAM (Astronautical Dual Arm Manipulator). After discussing the aim of the development, specifications of the robot are determined, on which details of the design are carried out. As a result, each arm consists of two flexible links and has seven degrees of freedom that are arranged so that the vibration of the links may be controlled effectively. Each joint of the arm is driven by modulized differential gears with harmonic drive reduction gears. The merits and the demerits of the differential gears are discussed. Finally, configuration of the control system is briefly described