Application of automatic action planning for several work cells to the German ETS-VII space robotics experiments

Experiences in space robotics show, that the user normally has to cope with a huge amount of data. So, only robot and mission specialists are able to control the robot arm directly in teleoperation mode. By means of an intelligent robot control in cooperation with virtual reality methods, it is possible for non-robot specialists to generate tasks for a robot or an automation component intuitively. Furthermore, the intelligent robot control improves the safety of the entire system. The on-ground robot control and command station for the robot arm ERA onboard the satellite ETS-VII builds on a new resource-based action planning approach to manage robot manipulators and other automation components. In the case of ERA, the action planning system also takes care of the "real" robot onboard the satellite and the "virtual" robot in the simulation system. By means of the simulation system, the user can plan tasks ahead as well as analyze and visualize different strategies. The paper describes the mechanism of resource-based action planning, its application to different work cells, the practical experiences gained from the implementation for the on-ground robot control and command station for the robot arm ERA developed in the GETEX project as well as the services it provides to support VR-based man machine interfaces.