{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,16]],"date-time":"2025-10-16T01:04:01Z","timestamp":1760576641306,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":19,"publisher":"ASTM International","issue":"5","content-domain":{"domain":["asmedigitalcollection.asme.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n               <jats:p>The demand for testing aerospace structures on Earth before they are launched into space has led to the development of equipment that is able to simulate orbit conditions, namely zero gravity. Several passive solutions have been proposed to perform offloading testing on Earth. However, they present limitations and lack the flexibility normally required by the complexity of the pathways. Active zero gravity emulation systems have been developed to mitigate the difficulties of the passive ones. Moreover, the emergence of robotic arms with the ability to perform complex and easily reprogrammable motion and force-controlled trajectories has opened the possibility of creating robot-based gravity compensation systems. This paper proposes and evaluates a solution for the gravity offloading testing of space devices based on currently available industrial robots. This solution takes advantage of the functionalities of collaborative robots, namely built-in force controllers, together with custom auxiliary subsystems. A setup was arranged to allow the communication between the robot controller and a computer running an internet of things (IoT) platform based on Node-RED so as to connect and control all components of the offloading system. Multiple robot control techniques were designed and tested based on several approaches employing impedance control functionalities and sensing data to create a closed-loop system. The results obtained are within the validation criteria, creating conditions to affirm for the application in question that the gravity compensation was achieved with success using the robot.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1520\/jte20220387","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,30]],"date-time":"2022-11-30T01:46:38Z","timestamp":1669772798000},"page":"3478-3493","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1115\/crossmarkpolicy-asme","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Robot-Assisted Gravity Offloading Testing of Aerospace Structures"],"prefix":"10.1520","volume":"51","author":[{"given":"Pedro R.","family":"Lopes","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Departamento de Engenharia Mec\u00e2nica, Faculdade de Engenharia (FEUP), Universidade do Porto 1 , Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto ,","place":["Portugal"]}]},{"given":"Lu\u00eds","family":"Moreira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Ci\u00eancia e Inova\u00e7\u00e3o em Engenharia Mec\u00e2nica e Engenharia Industrial (INEGI) 2 , Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto ,","place":["Portugal"]}]},{"given":"Ricardo","family":"Lopes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Ci\u00eancia e Inova\u00e7\u00e3o em Engenharia Mec\u00e2nica e Engenharia Industrial (INEGI) 2 , Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto ,","place":["Portugal"]}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7359-4370","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ant\u00f3nio M.","family":"Lopes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Departamento de Engenharia Mec\u00e2nica, Faculdade de Engenharia (FEUP), Universidade do Porto 1 , Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto ,","place":["Portugal"]},{"name":"Instituto de Ci\u00eancia e Inova\u00e7\u00e3o em Engenharia Mec\u00e2nica e Engenharia Industrial (INEGI) 3 , Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto ,","place":["Portugal"]}]}],"member":"381","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,2]]},"reference":[{"volume-title":"Large Deployable Antenna \u2013 GSE\u2019s Critical Design Review","year":"2019","key":"2025101517322886300_B1"},{"volume-title":"Articulated Booms \u2013 Large Ultrastable Deployable Structures (ABDS) \u2013 GSE\u2019s Detailed Design & Analysis","year":"2017","key":"2025101517322886300_B2"},{"year":"2022","key":"2025101517322886300_B3","article-title":"European Large Deployable Reflector and Arm Developments as Pathfinder for Future Earth Observation Missions"},{"first-page":"012074","article-title":"Design of Zero-Gravity Unloading Process Equipment for Satellite Overlapping Antenna on Ground Test","volume-title":"IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering 611","key":"2025101517322886300_B4"},{"year":"2010","key":"2025101517322886300_B5","article-title":"Gravity-Offloading System for Large-Displacement Ground Testing of Spacecraft Mechanisms"},{"issue":"5","key":"2025101517322886300_B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"93","DOI":"10.1007\/s11214-018-0520-7","article-title":"InSight Mars Lander Robotics Instrument Deployment System","volume":"214","year":"2018","journal-title":"Space Science Reviews"},{"key":"2025101517322886300_B7","first-page":"337","article-title":"Modeling and Control of Active Gravity Off-Loading for Deployable Space Structures","volume-title":"Sensors and Systems for Space Applications 6555","year":"2007"},{"key":"2025101517322886300_B8","first-page":"327","article-title":"Very Low Frequency Suspension Systems for Dynamic Testing","volume-title":"30th Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference","year":"1989"},{"key":"2025101517322886300_B9","first-page":"614","article-title":"Zero Gravity Tracking System Using Constant Tension Suspension for a Multidimensional Framed Structure Space Antenna","volume-title":"2016 Seventh International Conference on Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, ICMAE 2016","year":"2016"},{"key":"2025101517322886300_B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.actaastro.2019.10.021","article-title":"Gravity Compensation System of Mesh Antennas for In-Orbit Prediction of Deployment Dynamics","volume":"167","year":"2020","journal-title":"Acta Astronauta"},{"issue":"8","key":"2025101517322886300_B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1738","DOI":"10.1007\/s11431-022-2124-5","article-title":"Gravity Compensation Method via Magnetic Quasi-zero Stiffness Combined with a Quasi-zero Deformation Control Strategy","volume":"65","year":"2022","journal-title":"Science China Technological Sciences"},{"volume-title":"Automation and Robotics. 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