Common Human-Robotic Manipulation Interface ~ Lessons Learned from the Ground Robotic Manipulation Tests Imitating ISS Internal Environments

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is studying the application of robotic technology to support human spaceflight activities. To realize such applications in future missions, the International Space Station (ISS) can be utilized as a testbed environment. To study its feasibility and necessary requirements for the robot, application environment, as well as target hardware interface, JAXA has conducted a series of ground tests in the simulated ISS internal environment. JAXA has built an ISS mockup for robotic tests, where several commercial robotic manipulators, avatar-robots, and co-bots were tested to conduct analogue tasks that consume crew time in the Japanese Experimental Module. Such tests have outlined capabilities and limitations of these robots, especially in terms of the manipulation interface, which was designed for the crew to use. The ISS and human spaceflight programs utilize crew interface guidelines for their hardware design. Yet, existing robotic applications have a separate design from the crew interface. Proposing commonality in these interfaces is anticipated to promote further robotic applications, serving to better utilize crew-time and maximize the outcome of human spaceflight activities through a synergy of robots with astronauts. This paper will present the lessons learned from these tests and discuss interface guidelines toward a shared interface for crew and robots.