The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 17, 2018
Filed:
Oct. 03, 2014
Busek Co., Inc., Natick, MA (US);
James J. Szabo, Bedford, MA (US);
Vladimir Hruby, Newton, MA (US);
Thomas R. Roy, Maynard, MA (US);
Craig DeLuccia, Natick, MA (US);
Jay Andrews, Templeton, MA (US);
W. Dan Williams, Botlon, MA (US);
Matthew R. Berlin, Cambridge, MA (US);
Jesse V. Gray, Somerville, MA (US);
Busek Co., Inc., Natick, MA (US);
Abstract
A spacecraft system and method includes a platform with a dock and an umbilical payout device. A robot is connected to an umbilical paid out by the umbilical payout device and is repeatedly deployable from the dock. The robot includes one or more imagers, an inertial measurement unit, and a plurality of thrusters. A command module receives image data from the one or more robot imagers and orientation data from the inertial measurement unit. An object recognition module is configured to recognize one or more objects from the received image data. The command module determines the robot's orientation with respect to an object and issues thruster control commands to control movement of the robot based on the robot's orientation. The combination of the space platform and robot on umbilical line can be used for towing another object to different orbital location, inspection including self-inspection of the robot carrying platform and for robotic servicing.