Compliant pneumatic muscle structures and systems for extra-vehicular and intra-vehicular activities in space environments

Kihara, SW; Al-Ibadi, A; Al-Fahaam, HSH; El-Hussieny, H; Davis, ST; Nefti-Meziani, S; Patrouix, P

Abstract

In space environments, astronauts have duties that need to be addressed and some of them can be overwhelming, especially considering, in most cases, the crew members in the space station are normally a few. This can be resolved by accompanying the astronauts with assistant robots to reduce the workload. Thus, deployment of soft robots, inspired by the morphological adaptation ability existing in octopus tentacles, elephant trunks, and snakes, is promising in a very long horizon for space exploration. In this chapter, we will discuss one of the soft robotic technologies we developed bused on pneumatic muscle actuators’ (PMAs) principle and show how they can be effective to improve the existing robotic systems that can be implemented in space environments. These developed PMAs are promising and can serve as alternatives to the traditional rigid robotic systems, by performing dexterous activities that are tedious, repetitive, and difficult to perform.

Citation

Kihara, S., Al-Ibadi, A., Al-Fahaam, H., El-Hussieny, H., Davis, S., Nefti-Meziani, S., & Patrouix, P. (2021). Compliant pneumatic muscle structures and systems for extra-vehicular and intra-vehicular activities in space environments. In Y. Gao (Ed.), Space Robotics and Autonomous Systems: Technologies, advances and applications (43-76). Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). https://doi.org/10.1049/PBCE131E_ch3

• Online Publication Date: Aug 1, 2021
• Publication Date: Oct 19, 2021
• Deposit Date: Mar 29, 2022
• Publisher: Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)
• Pages: 43-76
• Book Title: Space Robotics and Autonomous Systems: Technologies, advances and applications
• ISBN: 9781839532252-(hardback);-9781839532269-(ebook)
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1049/PBCE131E_ch3
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1049/PBCE131E_ch3
• Related Public URLs: https://doi.org/10.1049/PBCE131E