System and method for emulation of dynamic systems in various gravity environments

A method of ground testing a position and orientation measurement and control system, the method comprising:

• outputting control forces and torques by a position and orientation measurement and control system (POMCS) hardware unit mounted at a tip of a robotic manipulator configured to emulate a dynamic system in a selected gravity environment;
• sensing accelerations and velocities of the POMCS hardware unit in response to the control forces and torques;
• sensing forces and moments exchanged between the tip and the POMCS hardware unit in response to the control forces and torques;
• correcting the sensed forces and moments using the sensed accelerations and velocities to obtain compensated forces and moments;
• using the compensated forces and moments in an emulation software system to produce a simulated inertial response of the dynamic system in the selected gravity environment;
• and
• tracking the simulated inertial response with the robotic arm to emulate the behavior of the dynamic system in the selected gravity environment.

A system for ground testing dynamic systems for space, the system comprising:

• a robotic manipulator including a measurement system and an inertial measurement system integrated at a tip of the robotic manipulator;
• a position and orientation measurement and control system (POMCS) hardware unit attached to the tip of the robotic manipulator and configured to output control forces and torques;
• a dynamic system emulator configured to simulate a motion behavior response of a dynamic system in a selected gravity environment in response to the output control forces and torques, wherein the response is simulated based on (a) forces and moments measured by the measurement system, (b) accelerations and velocities of the POMCS hardware unit measured by the inertial measurement system, and (c) mass properties of the POMCS hardware unit;
• an arm controller configured to generate a manipulator tip reference trajectory command based on the motion behavior response simulated by the dynamic system emulator and provide the manipulator tip reference trajectory command to the robotic manipulator;
• and
• an arm mechanism in the robotic manipulator configured to track a trajectory based on the manipulator tip reference trajectory command, such that the robotic manipulator emulates motion behavior of the dynamic system in the selected gravity environment.