Kontur-2: DLR’s Telepresence Experiment from the ISS
The project Kontur-2 is an intermediate step to advanced space missions, where teleoperated robots and rovers explore the surface of planets.
As part of the Kontur-2 project, the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics developed a space-qualified, force-feedback joystick with two degrees of freedom. With the help of this joystick, cosmonauts from the International Space Station (ISS) controlled robots on Earth. The teleoperated robots were located at the institute in Oberpfaffenhofen and at the project partner, RTC, in St. Petersburg (Russian State Scientific Center for Robotics and Technical Cybernetics).
The cosmonaut controlled the position of the robots and felt the forces that occurred during the interaction of the robot with the environment. The communication infrastructure developed in the previous ROKVISS and Kontur-1 projects was reused for data transmission between the ISS and Earth.
Essential project goals were:
+ The development of a new input and output devices for the telepresent control of robots (space-qualified force feedback joystick suitable for space travel)
+ The further development of time-delayed telepresence technologies
+ The performance of ISS telepresence experiments and local ergonomic studies to investigate ergonomic parameters and human factors in micro-gravity conditions
The Kontur-2 research work provides the technological basis for future planetary exploration missions in which, for example, demanding assembly tasks on a planetary surface have to be carried out with teleoperated robots.
Kontur-2: DLR’s Telepresence Experiment from the ISS
Kontur-2: DLR’s Telepresence Experiment from the ISS
The project Kontur-2 is an intermediate step to advanced space missions, where teleoperated robots and rovers explore the surface of planets.
As part of the Kontur-2 project, the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics developed a space-qualified, force-feedback joystick with two degrees of freedom. With the help of this joystick, cosmonauts from the International Space Station (ISS) controlled robots on Earth. The teleoperated robots were located at the institute in Oberpfaffenhofen and at the project partner, RTC, in St. Petersburg (Russian State Scientific Center for Robotics and Technical Cybernetics).
The cosmonaut controlled the position of the robots and felt the forces that occurred during the interaction of the robot with the environment. The communication infrastructure developed in the previous ROKVISS and Kontur-1 projects was reused for data transmission between the ISS and Earth.
Essential project goals were:
+ The development of a new input and output devices for the telepresent control of robots (space-qualified force feedback joystick suitable for space travel)
+ The further development of time-delayed telepresence technologies
+ The performance of ISS telepresence experiments and local ergonomic studies to investigate ergonomic parameters and human factors in micro-gravity conditions
The Kontur-2 research work provides the technological basis for future planetary exploration missions in which, for example, demanding assembly tasks on a planetary surface have to be carried out with teleoperated robots.
Credit: DLR (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)
Duration:00:02:28