Motion planning and coordination control of space robot using methods of calculated momentum

A key technology of space robots is to maintain the satellite attitude while space service is proceeding. This paper discusses the motion planning and control methods for both robot satellite attitude and robotic end-effector actions in the form of collaboration. A single gimbal control moment gyro (SGCMG) system is adopted to maintain the satellite attitude because of higher output torque than traditional reaction flywheels. From the viewpoint of disturbance momentum calculations, the EGJM matrix is proposed and the motions are controlled without the complex dynamics calculations of disturbance torque which causes larger computation and less efficiency. At last an optimal end-effector path is designed to minimize the disturbance momentum which should be compensated by SGCMGs. The performance of designed strategies is tested in a hardware-in-the-loop simulation environment which involves the space robot dynamics.