Inverse kinematics of free-floating space robots with minimum dynamic disturbance

Abstract

In this paper a new method is presented for solving the inverse kinematics of free-floating space manipulators. The idea behind the method is to move the space manipulator along a path with minimum dynamic disturbance. The method is proposed to use the manipulator Jacobian instead of the generalized Jacobian of the spacecraft-manipulator system. This is based on the simple fact that, if the space manipulator moves along the so-called Zero Disturbance Path (ZDP), the spacecraft is immovable. As a result, the space manipulator can in this case be treated as a terrestrial fixed-based manipulator. Hence, the motion mapping between the joints and the end-effector can be described directly by the manipulator Jacobian. In the case that the ZDP does not exist, it can be shown that the solutions obtained by the proposed method provide a path with minimum dynamic disturbance.