Attitude control for astronaut assisted robot in the space station

Because of the limited working hours of astronauts in the space station, the in-cabin robot has high value in the technological validation and scientific research. Based on this requirement, we proposed and designed an Astronaut Assisted Robot(AAR) working in the space station. It can float in the space station cabin, fly autonomously, and hold a fixed position and/or posture. In addition, it also possesses environmental awareness capabilities and intelligence. Thus the AAR can assist astronauts to complete some special scientific experiments or technical tests. In this paper, the system architecture and experimental equipment of the AAR are designed firstly depending on the characteristics of space microgravity environment and the requirements of assisting astronauts missions. And then, the motion principles of the AAR are analyzed and the robot’s dynamic model is established by using the Newton - Euler algorithm. Since the attitude control of the robot is the basis for its free movement, the PID Neural Network( PIDNN) algorithm, which is a kind of intelligent control algorithm, is used to design the attitude controller of the AAR. Finally, the reasonability of the robot’s structural design and the availability of its attitude controllers are verified through the simulation experiments.