Redwire Space team in Luxembourg recently completed a successful testing campaign for its STAARK robotic arm. STAARK is an affordable, modular, and easily customized robotic system designed for various on-orbit robotics applications. The latest testing campaign has successfully demonstrated that Redwire’s STAARK robotic arm is capable of autonomously tracking and grasping dynamic objects.

Testing Campaign

Redwire developed STAARK’s advanced capabilities to integrate real-time perception and precise control seamlessly. This allows STAARK to track, predict, and react swiftly to objects in its environment. To validate this capability, the Redwire team developed a state-of-the-art robotic testbed. Designed to emulate zero-gravity conditions, this setup enables accurate ground-based testing of robotic interactions expected in space.

Within this testing environment, a secondary robotic arm hosts a target spacecraft and emulates its motion as if it were in microgravity by measuring forces and torques and simulating free-floating dynamics. For validation of accuracy and precision, a super-fast motion capture system tracks motions at submillimeter resolution by observing the workspace over 200 times per second. Together, they form a one-of-a-kind facility that can test and validate orbital robotic solutions from perception to control. We can also test close-proximity operations for rendezvous and proximity operations missions.

Two key highlights from the successful testing campaign include:

• Successful vision-based tracking of the target object
• Successful grasping of the launch adapter rings on dynamic targets

Together, these advancements are significant for the future of in-space servicing, debris removal, and orbital manipulation.

STAARK continues to mature through in-house scenario testing and performance improvements. The team continues to improve the vision system, planning, and control algorithm performances to take STAARK’s autonomous operations to the next level.

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