Robotic In-Situ Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing

About this Research Topic

Background

This Research Topic is devoted to papers focused on robotic manufacturing, assembly, and servicing utilizing in-situ resources, especially for space robotic applications. The ability to utilize in-situ resources will enable the construction and maintenance of large-scale assets at significantly reduced cost. Ground-based examples include large infrastructure (buildings, particle accelerators, solar farms) or undersea structures (oil platforms, laboratories, habitats). Achieving in-situ fabrication using cooperative, mobile robots is also a major goal of several terrestrial and orbital construction projects including large in-space assemblies (space telescopes, commercial platforms, transportation hubs). The Research Topic will include extended manuscripts based on podium/poster presentations from the 'Robotic In-Situ Servicing, Assembly and Maintenance' workshop at the 2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2020) held in Las Vegas, Nevada USA on October 25, 2020.

Major challenges include mobility, precise manipulation, localization/mapping, and adaptability to uncertainties in the environment. The capacity to process raw materials in remote environments is key for on-orbit, lunar, and planetary applications. Large ground-based facilities built in inaccessible locales could also benefit greatly from in-situ robotics for inspection and servicing, and likely would necessitate a multi-robot scalable solution.

The aim of this Research Topic is to provide a forum to researchers across a variety of disciplines to identify common themes, formulate problems, and share promising technologies for autonomous large-scale construction, servicing, and assembly robots. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Robotic In-Space Manufacturing and Material Manipulation
• In-process inspection, repair, verification and validation
• In-situ sensing and relative navigation
• Dexterous robot manipulation and mobile platforms
• Robotic tools, tool drive system and mating mechanisms
• Modular/Cooperative servicing interfaces and systems
• Modular Mechanical, Power, and Data Interfaces
• Robotic Assembly Joining Technology
• Terrestrial and Lunar Surface Manipulator System
• Actuation for Long Reach In-Space Manipulation
• Multi-robot/multi-agent cooperative systems or operations


Image Credit: University of Lincoln

Keywords: Robotic Assembly, Multi-Agent Cooperative Systems, Robotic Inspection, Robotic Repair, In-Space Manufacturing, In-Situ Sensing, In-Situ Navigation

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