The Virtual Space Robotics Testbed: Comprehensive Means for the Development and Evaluation of Components for Robotic Exploration Missions

Abstract

Designing robotic components and algorithms for exploration and science missions in space and on celestial bodies requires extensive preparation and testing. Due to the extremely high costs of spaceflight and space-capable hardware, design and evaluation iterations need to be performed on earth, using computer simulations as well as real test environments to make predictions about the robot’s performance on the real mission. A variety of ways to simulate single aspects of a robot like mechanical stress or power consumption in great detail are in active use. However, no truly holistic solution that evaluates overall system behavior across a multitude of disciplines has been developed to date. In this paper, we discuss the benefits of such a solution and present our virtual space robotics testbed, a framework that represents our work towards a holistic solution.