motion tracking system and force/torque sensor for robot-airship facility

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Over the past three years, the applicant has developed a new laboratory facility for conducting research on autonomous robotic capture of satellites and non-man-made objects in space. The main current application of this work is the use of the Space Shuttle Manipulator System to grapple a malfunctioning satellite. Future envisioned uses include in-orbit satellite servicing and removal of space debris. Space Agencies around the world have dedicated resources towards resolving problems associated with in-orbit satellite servicing in order to improve  the success rate of satellite launches and to extend the life of satellites currently in orbit. The aforementioned facility constructed at McGill includes a robotic arm on a track and a helium airhip to emulate a free-floating object in space. The latter is a novel concept proposed by the applicant for emulating the dynamics of objects in space in a standard environment of a laboratory. Ths airship is equipped with six propellers to allow it to translate and rotate. It also carries a grapple fixture---a small handle where the robot can grasp it. To date, the applicant and her research personnel have developed basic functionalities to allow the robot to follow a specified trajectory and to track a visual target mounted on the airship. The next phases of this research require the addition of two pieces of equipment to the facility: a sensor which would be mounted on the airship to measure its motion in the laboratory and a sensor, to be mounted at the robot tip which would  measure the forces and moments exerted on the airship during and after capture. With the integration of these two pieces of equipment, the applicant will be able to continue her research on developing motion planning and control strategies whereby the robot can automatically track the motion of the airship, determine a trajectory which would allow it to intercept the airship,  grasp it by the grapple fixture and to control the motion of the complete system after the capture.