Research of Adhesion Mechanism in Space Climbing Robot On-Orbit Servicing for Spacecraft

Abstract

According to the on-orbit servicing requirements of space cooperative target spacecraft，in order to expand the existing manipulator work space and its task function and provide support for the on-orbit control of the spacecraft，a new type of space climbing robot is proposed. The space climbing robot system consists of legs driven by piezoelectric，micro adhesive feet and other parts. The space climbing robot is composed of eight legs driven by piezoelectric which has three joints and five degrees of freedom. It can extend crossing obstacle ability by somersault based on the traditional way of climbing. The robot feet are designed in micro array structure that based on the bionics principle and reference the micro structure on feet of gecko，insects or other creatures. Based on the theory of interface micro mechanics and tribology，the contact mechanics model between micro structure of the adhesive feet and the surface of spacecraft is established. Then it analyzes its adhesive properties based on discrete element method. The simulation results demonstrate that using different ways of movement can achieve different adhesive ability of single seta，which provides theoretical support for achieving the robot foot adhesive and rapid stripping ability.

Keywords

bionic / microarray / discrete element method / adhesive force