Professor Kim Pyo-jin of the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) announced on the 21st that he has developed a technology to help robots move stably without losing direction even in the International Space Station (ISS).
In the ISS, there is no distinction between up and down due to the microgravity environment, making it difficult for robots to recognize direction and find their way. In particular, the 'Astrobot' flying robot designed for the ISS must rotate freely in a weightless state, but it often fails to recognize direction with existing navigation technologies.
The research team, in collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center, developed technology that helps space robots accurately recognize and maintain their posture by constructing a directional map of indoor three-dimensional space using digital twin technology. A digital twin is a model that replicates a system or space from the real world into a virtual space. The research team compared actual video footage with the digital twin model to eliminate confusing or unnecessary information.
Using the world's first dataset for autonomous flight robots in the ISS, constructed by the research team in March, the technology was tested, revealing that the 'absolute rotation error,' which evaluates the accuracy of the robot's rotation, was only an average of 1.43 degrees. This indicates that the technology is suitable for precise posture control and exploration.
Professor Kim Pyo-jin said, "This research has created technology that enables robots to move autonomously without losing direction, even in extreme environments such as space stations," and noted, "I expect that this digital twin-based technology will help autonomous robots find their way accurately in complex indoor spaces such as airports, hospitals, and warehouses."
The research findings were presented at the Second Space Robotics Workshop held in Los Angeles, U.S., in July.