Supernumerary Robotic Limbs to Augment Astronauts Performing Post-Fall Recoveries During Partial-Gravity Spacewalks

Le résumé fourni par la source

This paper investigates the effectiveness of a type of wearable robot, known as Supernumerary Robotic Limbs (SuperLimbs) in assisting an astronaut performing partial-gravity Extra-Vehicular Activities (EVAs). SuperLimbs can directly address a key technology gap identified by NASA concerning that of incapacitated crew rescue devices during partial-gravity EVAs. To contextualize SuperLimbs in human spaceflight application, we start by reviewing other forms of wearable robotics technologies and perform a qualitative comparison with SuperLimbs. From there, we present a suite of operational modes that SuperLimbs is capable of delivering in a suited partial-gravity EVA.Within the operational mode suite, we selected the most urgent use-case: that of performing a post-fall recovery, and reviewed the results from a pilot-human study. To validate the effectiveness of SuperLimbs in providing the necessary assistive forces needed for a post-fall recovery, a series of validation experiments was performed with a prototype SuperLimbs system.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.