Design and experiments of a bio-inspired tensegrity spine robot for active space debris capturing

Abstract Aiming at active space debris capturing, this paper proposes a novel tensegrity spine robot, inspired by the structure and mechanism of vertebrates’ spine. It consists of a series of conical rigid elements, which are linked with springs and stabilized in a tension network. The continuous bending of the robot is achieved by the actuation of three sets of cables. A prototype is built and a closed-loop control method is proposed for proof-of-concept experiments, including bending motion control, capturing a non-cooperative target, and tests of load performance. The experimental results show that the proposed tensegrity spine robot has potential application prospects in space debris capturing.