Long-Reach Robotic Manipulation for Assembly and Outfitting of Lunar Structures

TL;DR

This paper introduces a long-reach robotic manipulator with a deployable boom designed for lunar construction tasks, demonstrating its effectiveness in cable routing with high accuracy.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel compact long-reach manipulator with a deployable composite boom and a control strategy to mitigate structural effects for lunar assembly tasks.

Findings

Average endpoint accuracy error of less than 15 mm at 1.8 m boom length

Characterization of deflection, vibration, and blossoming effects

Successful demonstration of cable routing for lunar outfitting

Abstract

Future infrastructure construction on the lunar surface will require semi- or fully-autonomous operation from robots deployed at the build site. In particular, tasks such as electrical outfitting necessitate transport, routing, and fine manipulation of cables across large structures. To address this need, we present a compact and long-reach manipulator incorporating a deployable composite boom, capable of performing manipulation tasks across large structures and workspaces. We characterize the deflection, vibration, and blossoming characteristics inherent to the deployable structure, and present a manipulation control strategy to mitigate these effects. Experiments indicate an average endpoint accuracy error of less than 15 mm for boom lengths up to 1.8 m. We demonstrate the approach with a cable routing task to illustrate the potential for lunar outfitting applications that benefit from long reach.