Multisensory Shared Autonomy - A Key Issue In The Space Robot Technology Experiment ROTEX

The space robot technology experiment ROTEX to fly with the next spacelab mission D2 in January 1993 provides a multisensory robot which is supposed to work in an autonomous mode, teleoperated by astronauts, as well as in different telerobotic ground control modes.These include on-line teleoperation and telesensorprogramming, a task-level oriented programming technique involving `learning by showing'concepts in a virtual environment. The robot's key features are its multisensory gripper and the local sensory feedback schemes which are the basis for shared autonomy. The corresponding man-machine interface concepts using a 6 dof non- force-reflecting control ball and visual feedback to the human operator are explained.Stereographic simulation on ground is supposed to predict even the sensor based path refinement on board, while realtime fusion of stereo images and laser range information helps to predict the motion of floating objects to be grapsed from ground, too. Other prototype tasks to be performed by this space robot are the assembly of a truss structure and connecting/ disconnecting an electrical plug (orbit replaceable unit exchange ORU).