2P1-M05 The concept of the astronaut supporting robot, Morphable Beam Robot and the development of a beam shaping prototype robot(Space Engineering and Robotics and Mechatronics)

In order to exceed the working and moving capabilities of existing robots for supporting and substituting of astronaut's activities, this paper shows the new robot concept. The robot body is consisted of the hyper redundant and shape memorable structure, Morphable Beam. It can work and move extensive fields, and it can be in the compact-sized storage. It also has the collision tolerance and the safety for astronauts or space stations. This paper also shows the development of the beam shaping prototype robot and the test data of the prototype robot. It was developed to show the feasibility and appropriateness of the concept. Authors confirmed the beam bending and appropriateness of the robot.