Inverse kinematics problem for 6-DOF space manipulator based on the theory of screws

Space manipulators will play a significant role in the maintenance and repair of space stations and satellites, and other space missions. The inverse kinematics is an important problem in the automatic control of space manipulator. The paper presents a novel method for solving the inverse kinematics problem of 6-DOF space manipulator based on the theory of screws. To solve the inverse kinematics problem, we formulate the kinematics equations of 6-DOF space manipulator and study a novel method. The method can give the analytic solutions of the inverse kinematics problem for 6-DOF space manipulator. The virtual prototyping technology is used to model the 6-dof mechanical arm system of Free-Flying space Robot (FFR) and simulate the space manipulator system, it shows the validity of the method which is presented in this paper. Compared with other methods, the method based on the theory of screws just establish two coordinates, is applicable to real-time control, allows one to directly choose the desired configuration from the multi-solutions and its geometry meaning is obvious.