Motion Design for Grasp-Based Dynamic Locomotion in Microgravity

Engineering notes

The findings can guide engineers in designing multi-limbed robots for effective operations in microgravity, focusing on stability and efficient use of actuation. Strategies for contact configuration and coordination are particularly relevant for engineering applications.

Chinese explanation / 中文解读

在微重力环境中，依靠稀疏和不规律分布的锚点进行运动变得更加复杂。本研究提出了一种多肢体机器人在微重力中的抓握基础动态运动设计方法，重点在于6D肢体操作以实现与锚点的接触。通过参数化的运动规划框架优化步态模式、步幅和姿态，提升稳定性和运动性能。

Original abstract

Locomotion in microgravity often relies on sparsely and irregularly arranged anchors, motivating grasp-based mobility with multiple limbs. In this setting, dynamic locomotion is feasible only through deliberate regulation of both anchored interactions and whole-body coordination under coupled dynamic and kinematic constraints. This paper presents design insights for grasp-based dynamic locomotion with multi-limbed robotic systems in microgravity, targeting scenarios that require 6D limb manipulation to establish contacts with candidate anchors. The investigated design parameters include gait pattern, stride length, locomotion speed, and nominal posture. A parameterizable locomotion planning framework is proposed to support variations of these parameters and to evaluate the resulting locomotion performance in terms of stability and actuation demand. Two representative quadruped morphologies are adopted for evaluation in physics-based simulation. The results demonstrate that enlarging the feasible contact wrench space and attenuating impulsive whole-body dynamics improve locomotion performance. These findings inform strategies for contact configuration selection and whole-body coordination in microgravity locomotion with multi-limbed systems.

Links and sources

• Official / arXiv page
• PDF from original source

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