Kinematics and simulations of space manipulator in three work modes

In recent years, research on space robotics has attracted considerable attention. Kinematics of the free-flying or free-floating space manipulator system, including a spacecraft and a manipulator mounted on the spacecraft, is a significant problem. In free-floating work mode, the spacecraft will move freely in response to the disturbances caused by the manipulator motions. From the view of application, change of the spacecraft attitude for the space manipulator system is not desirable. Therefore, it is of significance to adopt the free-floating with zero-disturbance spacecraft attitude work mode. This paper presents an overview of the kinematics of the space manipulator system. Position and velocity kinematics solutions in three work modes are analyzed. The kinematics differences among the three work modes are formulated. The simulation results validate the effectiveness of the kinematics solutions in the three work modes.