Asteroids: Stripped on passing by Earth

Stochastic Models and Control of Anchoring Mechanisms for Grasping in Microgravity

Robots equipped with anchoring mechanisms have attractive applications in asteroid exploration. However, complex application scenarios bring great challenges to the modeling and control of anchoring mechanisms. This paper presents a grasping model and control method for an anchoring mechanism for asteroid exploration. First, the structure of the anchoring mechanism is demonstrated. Second, stochastic grasping models based on surface properties are established. The effectiveness of the grasping model is verified by experiments. A stiffness-modeling method of the microspine is proposed. On this basis, the stochastic grasping model of the anchoring mechanism is established, and the grasping cloud diagram of the anchoring mechanism is drawn. Third, in order to reduce the collision force between the anchor mechanism and the asteroid surface, a control method for the anchoring mechanism in the movement process is proposed based on the motion mode of the asteroid-exploration robot. Finally, a prototype is developed, and the experimental results validate the motion ability of the robot and the control method.