Canadian Space Robotic Development for Planetary Exploration

Canada has invested over $1.4B during the past 25 years in the development of robotic manipulator systems for the Space Shuttle and Space Station Programs. Mars, Moon and other bodies in our solar system are seen as an excellent opportunity to utilize this established advanced space robotic capability as a base for continued robotics technology development and utilization. Coupled with a strong interest from the Canadian planetary science community, and the recent launch of a new Space Exploration Program by the Canadian Space Agency, this has lead to some exciting robotic development activities to utilize this capability to support Canadian participation in planetary missions. This paper gives an overview of these activities including identification of near-term international planetary missions expected to use Canadian robotic manipulators, design reference tasks for the robotic activities, new design methodologies, hardware prototyping activities, leapfrog technology thrusts, together with automation and reliability issues.