Flexible energy supply system for six-arm robot in test facility for space missions

More and more space debris, i.e. parts of space missions that are no longer needed or are defective, are also threatening ongoing missions. According to the ESA, there are currently over 600,000 objects with a diameter of more than 1 cm in orbit around the Earth. The first collisions have already occurred, e.g. in 2009 a still-functioning telephone satellite was destroyed by flying parts of an old satellite. To solve this problem, the German space project EPOS ("European Proximity Operations Simulator") was launched. EPOS is a system for simulating rescue and disposal manoeuvres in Earth orbit. With proximity and docking manoeuvres in space ("Rendezvous" and "Docking"), unmanned satellites will be able to act as service or rescue satellites to bring space debris into a so-called graveyard orbit or to carry out repairs. In this system, two 6-arm robots work on a common linear axis with a travel range of 25 metres. The operators were looking for a suitable energy chain solution and linear bearing technology for the process and the cable routing of the robots.

The simulation system is set up and operated at the DLR (German Aerospace Centre) in Oberpfaffenhofen (Space Operations Institute & Astronaut Training and Robotics & Mechatronics). This is where the dry runs, so to speak, are carried out and further development is undertaken. The industrial partners are Robo-Technology GmbH and KUKA Roboter GmbH. The system mainly consists of two 6-arm robots on a common linear axis with a travel range of 25 metres. A plastic-energy chain from the triflex® R series with a triflex® RS universal module is used in each of the two robots in the simulation system. The triflex® multi-axis energy supply system has been specially developed for demanding 6-axis robot applications in harsh industrial environments. The 410 series e-chain® is also used on the linear axis. The energy supply along the robot arm was selected in collaboration between Robo-Technology and igus®.