According to the team from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), their robotic arm can be placed in space and primarily used for collecting the debris surrounding Earth.
Originally, the arm was developed as an assembly tool in factories by Simlab, a robotics manufacturer. After it was programmed at EPFL's Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory, the researchers discovered its potential in catching moving objects.
The arm is 1.5 meters in length. Its movement and catching ability are aided by seven joints and a robotic hand that has four fingers. The joints allow the entire arm to twist in various positions to optimize its catching function.
Seungsu Kim, a researcher from EPFL, explained how the arm executes its function in three phases.
He said, "First thing is to predict the whole trajectory. Second thing is finding the best catching posture. And third thing is generating arm motion."
The concept behind the arm was inspired by how humans learn through trial and error.
Through a process called Programming by Demonstration, the researchers first showed the robotic arm multiple trajectory paths of projectile objects. To make sure the arm learns about the various trajectories, the researchers manually guided it repeatedly.
For its space application, the arm can be mounted on a satellite. Using its tracking abilities, it will monitor flying junk and catch it. The collected debris can then be placed inside a container and taken back to Earth for proper disposal.
Recently, three U.S. organizations appeared before the House of Representatives regarding the growing space junk problem.
According to their reports, there are around 500,000 pieces of junk traveling at speeds of 17,000 mph in space. Objects traveling this fast can easily damage a satellite or space shuttle.
The robotic arm can be deployed to catch these flying objects to ensure a safer path for the astronauts' spacecrafts.
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