Robotic technology offers two potential benefits for future space exploration. One benefit is minimizing the risk that astronauts face. The other benefit is increasing their productivity. Realizing the benefits of robotic technology in space will require solving several problems which are unique and now becoming active research topics. One of the most important research areas is dynamics, control, motion and planning for space robots by considering the dynamic interaction between the robot and the base (space station, space shuttle, or satellite). Any inefficiency in the planning and control can considerably risk by success of the space mission. Space Robotics: Dynamics and Control presents a collection of papers concerning fundamental problems in dynamics and control of space robots, focussing on issues relevant to dynamic base/robot interaction. The authors are all pioneers in theoretical analysis and experimental systems development of space robot technology. The chapters are organized within three problem areas: dynamics problems, nonholonomic nature problems, and control problems. This collection provides a solid reference for researchers in robotics, mechanics, control, and astronautical science.

This book is a comprehensive engineering exploration of all the aspects of precision machine design—both component and system design considerations for precision machines. It addresses both theoretical analysis and practical implementation providing many real-world design case studies as well as numerous examples of existing components and their characteristics. Fast becoming a classic, this book includes examples of analysis techniques, along with the philosophy of the solution method. It explores the physics of errors in machines and how such knowledge can be used to build an error budget for a machine, how error budgets can be used to design more accurate machines.

Computer Aided Geometric Design covers the proceedings of the First International Conference on Computer Aided Geometric Design, held at the University of Utah on March 18-21, 1974. This book is composed of 15 chapters and starts with reviews of the properties of surface patch equation and the use of computers in geometrical design. The next chapters deal with the principles of smooth interpolation over triangles and without twist constraints, as well as the graphical representation of surfaces over triangles and rectangles. These topics are followed by discussions of the B-spline curves and surfaces; mathematical and practical possibilities of UNISURF; nonlinear splines; and some piecewise polynomial alternatives to splines under tension. Other chapters explore the smooth parametric surfaces, the space curve as a folded edge, and the interactive computer graphics application of the parametric bi-cubic surface to engineering design problems. The final chapters look into the three-dimensional human-machine communication and a class of local interpolating splines. This book will prove useful to design engineers.