Advanced Development for Space Robotics with Emphasis on Fault Tolerance

D. Tesar, J. Chladek*, R. Hooper, D. Sreevijayan, C. Kapoor, J. Geisinger, M. Meaney, G. Browning, K. Rackers
J. Chladek is of NASA/JSC, the others are of the Robotics Research Group at the University of Texas at Austin

Abstract
This paper describes the ongoing work in fault tolerance at the University of Texas at Austin. The paper describes the technical goals the group is striving to achieve and includes a brief description of the individual projects focusing on fault tolerance. The ultimate goal is to develop and test technology applicable to all future missions of NASA (lunar base, Mars exploration, planetary surveillance, space station, etc.).

Introduction
The University of Texas at Austin, in concert with the Robotics Division at JSC and funding support by the telerobotics program at NASA headquarters, has undertaken a long term effort to establish advanced component and system technology for space robotics with emphasis on fault tolerance [Butler et al.][Tesar ‘89][Tesar et al.]. The goal is to develop and test technology applicable to all future missions of NASA (lunar base, Mars exploration, planetary surveillance, space station, etc.). This technology would be in balance with the astronaut sharing tasks based on performance, cost, and availability issues. In order to reduce costs, the system would be made up of a finite number of modules (both hardware and software) proven by extensive testing in space. This set of modules would be constantly under technical development so that “tech mods” would be feasible at any time. Also, the repair and logistics functions (warehousing of spares in space) would be based on these modules to further reduce costs. This architecture would allow the specification of a robot configuration “on demand” reducing the threat of obsolescence and freeing the mission planner to aggressively use advanced (yet proven) technology.

D. Tesar, J. Chladek, R. Hooper, D. Sreevijayan, C. Kapoor, J. Geisinger, M. Meaney. G. Browning, K. Rackers. “Advanced Development for Space Robotics with Emphasis on Fault- Tolerance.” 29th Aerospace Mechanism Symposium, May 17-19, 1995.