Research/ TESTBEDS & SIMULATION
Spacecraft Manipulator System Simulator
Anumandla Sukrutha, L Gopalakrishnan, Pallabi Sinha, Pranay Pallav Tripathi, Raghav Hariharan, Sathwik Reddy Majji, D Shikhar, Sreelatha A
Manipulation & GraspingOpenAlex keyword: spacecraft manipulators · Simulation, Digital Twins & Benchmarkstext match · Microgravity Mobility & Free-FlyersOpenAlex keyword: free-flying spacecraft
The focus of the paper lies on creating a simulator for free floating (no external forces or torques; in free space) spacecraft manipulator systems (robotic arm mounted on a spacecraft) in MATLAB. Spacecraft manipulator geometry for which simulator is made consists of a base-spacecraft, manipulator links, revolute joints and end-effector. The simulator can handle various masses, Moment of Inertia, DH parameters, variable number of links and joints, etc. The simulator works on the Lagrangian approach and was independently validated against MuJoCo, an open source physics simulator for multi-body dynamics with contact.