On-Board Simulator for Autonomy Enhancement in Robotic Space Missions

Abstract :

Space robotics missions are subjected to hard challenges on deployment time and the higher the level of autonomy the larger the magnitude of these difficulties. Its final behavior is always dependent of the current states of the environment and of the system itself. In order to provide the required level of reliability, accurate predictions of these behaviors is mandatory for planning. This document proposes an approach based on the use of complex simulations involving the models of the environment, of the robot and of the whole control software as a tool to provide this predictions and improve the available planners without modifying them internally. The approach pursues affecting the planner’s behavior through different external means (e.g. modification of it inputs, parameter adaptation) so that it will produce more reliable solutions. An application for improving the efficiency of a naive planner aiming to solve a salesman travel mission scenario is presented. The connections between the different locations to visit are assumed by the planner to be connected but the final scenario and the navigation limitations of the robot do not allow the traverse of all the paths. Through a simulation based on an aerial image the valid paths are found and a plan is generated which is not leading to a failure state.

Keywords :

On-Board Simulation, Internal Simulator, Planning, Autonomy, Space Robotics, Validation, Forward Models.

Files:

OnBoardSim_astra15.pdf

Links:

http://robotics.estec.esa.int/ASTRA/Astra2015/Papers/Session%209B/97516_Dominguez.pdf