A review of the end-effector of large space manipulator with capabilities of misalignment tolerance and soft capture

The space manipulator which has advantages of high dexterity and universality, is used to the space capturing usually. According to the different types of mechanical interfaces of targets, the on orbit capturing operation includes capturing of cooperative target and capturing of uncooperative target. The performances of the famous large space manipulators named space shuttle remote manipulator system (SRMS), the space station remote manipulator system (SSRMS) and the Europe robotic arm (ERA) are reviewed and studied respectively. Moreover, the space manipulators being developed by China for space station is also surveyed. Based on the performance analysis of the large space manipulators and end-effectors, which are adapted to the construction and daily maintenance for the large space structure such as the space station, the basic requirements of large misalignment tolerance capability, soft capturing capability and hard docking capability for the end-effector of large space manipulator are proposed in this paper. According to these requirements, the capture mechanism and methods that can enable the end-effector to have the capability of misalignment tolerance and soft capturing are presented. The development trend and key technologies of the large space manipulators and the end-effectors are also reviewed.

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