Modelling and real-time simulation of the HErmes robot arm HERA

Abstract

The HErmes Robot Arm (HERA) is a sophisticated and highly automated Space Manipulator System developed to be launched with and operated from the European Spaceplane Hermes. During operational use HERA will be located at the Columbus Free-Flying Laboratory which is part of the European In-Orbit Infrastructure. The HERA Simulation Facility Pilot (HSF-P) is the first dedicated simulation facility built for research and development needed for HERA. Main objectives of the HSF-P are evaluation of tele-operator station requirements, evaluation of operator-in-the-loop support software, experimentation on manipulator operations feasibility and visualisation of manipulator operations both in real-time and in non-real-time. Simulation models of flight elements used for HSF-P are described in the paper, with main attention to the models used for simulation of HERA. The paper concludes with a description of the HSF-P architecture and its realisation. This paper has been prepared for presentation at the International Symposium of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space (i-SAIRIS), Kobe, Japan, 18-20 November 1990.