THE GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO INTEGRATE ADHESION-BASED GRASPING WITH CONTROL AND PLANNING TO ENABLE ASSISTIVE FREE-FLYERS TO GRASP AND MANIPULATE PAYLOADS SUPPLIES AND TOOLS INSIDE AND OUTSIDE SPACECRAFT. THE TECHNICAL OBJECTIVES ARE: 1. DESIGN ANALYZE AND TEST MECHANISMS FOR GRASPING AND MANIPULATION THAT EMPLOY CONTROLLABLE ADHESION AND GRASP AND MANIPULATE PAYLOADS WITHIN SPACE VEHICLES AND ULTIMATELY IN EXTRAVEHICULAR OPERATIONS. 2. DEVISE CONTROL AND PLANNING ALGORITHMS THAT ALLOW FREE-FLYERS TO NAVIGATE ACROSS COMPLEX SPACE STRUCTURES AND GRASP AND MANIPULATE PAYLOADS WITH ADHESION-BASED APPENDAGES. 3. VALIDATE THE TECHNOLOGY FOR MANIPULATION TASKS ON A STATE-OF-THE-ART TEST BED AT STANFORD EMULATING THE MOTION OF SPHERES AND FUTURE ASTROBEES IN ZERO GRAVITY. OUR TECHNICAL APPROACH IS BASED ON GECKO-INSPIRED CONTROLLABLE ADHESIVES THAT ARE NON-STICKY IN THE DEFAULT STATE AND ADHERE ONLY WHEN LOADED IN A CERTAIN DIRECTION. RESEARCH FROM THE INVESTIGATORS HAS DEMONSTRATED THAT SUCH ADHESIVES SCALE TO LARGE LOADS FUNCTION IN VACUUM AND OVER A WIDE RANGE OF TEMPERATURES AND PERFORM WELL UNDER COLLISIONS IN A VARIETY OF APPLICATIONS INCLUDING CLIMBING ROBOTS HUMAN CLIMBING AND PERCHING MICRO-AIR VEHICLES. IN THE PROPOSED EFFORT WE WILL DESIGN APPENDAGES WITH SPECIALIZED GRIPPERS AND WRISTS THAT LEVERAGE SUCH ADHESIVES. THE WRISTS WILL BECOME FREELY PIVOTING IF AN OVERLOAD TORQUE IS APPLIED (E.G. IN CASE OF A COLLISION). WRISTS AND GRIPPERS WITHOUT A FREE-FLYER COULD ALSO BE USED BY HUMANS WHO WANT TO ATTACH CAMERAS SENSORS OR OTHER DEVICES TO FLAT OR CURVED SURFACES. FREE-FLYERS WITH ADHESION WILL REQUIRE NOVEL ALGORITHMS FOR PLANNING AND CONTROL THAT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE COUPLED DYNAMICS OF THE FREE-FLYER AND THOSE OF THE END EFFECTOR AND ALLOW THE APPENDAGES TO RELIABLY ENGAGE OR RELEASE PAYLOADS. THE APPROACH WILL BE TO TAILOR RECENT BREAKTHROUGHS BY THE INVESTIGATORS IN SPACECRAFT MOTION PLANNING SPECIFICALLY SAMPLING-BASED KINODYNAMIC PLANNING WITH ASYMPTOTIC OPTIMALITY GUARANTEES. ADDITIONALLY WE WILL DESIGN ADAPTIVE MODEL PREDICTIVE CONTROL ALGORITHMS BASED ON CONVEX OPTIMIZATION THAT ALLOW PRECISE DOCKING DURING THE GRASPING AND RELEASE AND ARE ROBUST TO UNCERTAINTIES IN THE PAYLOAD'S MASS AND INERTIA. THE ALGORITHMS WILL EXPLOIT THE UNIQUE FEATURES OF CONTROLLABLE ADHESIVES WHICH HOLD THE POTENTIAL TO CONSIDERABLY EASE MANIPULATION TASKS AS COMPARED TO CONVENTIONAL GRIPPERS THAT USE SPECIALIZED GRAPPLING FEATURES. THIS PROJECT FOCUSES ON GRASPING AND MANIPULATION WITHIN SPACE VEHICLES BUT ALSO PAVES THE WAY FOR EXTRA-VEHICULAR OPERATIONS WHERE FEW ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGIES ARE EFFECTIVE. IT BRINGS TOGETHER A TEAM OF EXPERTS IN DEXTEROUS MANIPULATION GRASPING DEVICES MOTION PLANNING AND CONTROL ASTRONAUTICS AND HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT FROM STANFORD AND MIT. IT BUILDS ON NEW RESULTS THAT HAVE RECEIVED TWO BEST-PAPER AWARDS AT MAJOR ROBOTICS CONFERENCES. THIS PROPOSAL ALSO BUILDS ON A COLLABORATION WITH DR. AARON PARNESS AT JPL TO INVESTIGATE GECKO-INSPIRED ADHESIVES FOR MICRO-GRAVITY APPLICATIONS AND SPACE-READINESS. RESPONSIVENESS: THIS PROPOSAL RESPONDS TO TOPIC 1: PAYLOAD TECHNOLOGIES FOR ASSIS- TIVE FREE-FLYERS. IT ADDRESSES THE INTEREST FROM NASA TO DEVELOP ASSISTIVE FREE-FLYERS THAT CAN GRASP AND MANIPULATE PAYLOADS SUPPLIES AND TOOLS INSIDE AND OUTSIDE SPACE VEHICLES. EXAMPLE TASKS INCLUDE UNPACKING AND STORING SUPPLIES POSITIONING SENSORS AND CAMERAS AND FETCHING TOOLS AND OTHER ITEMS FOR ASTRONAUTS. SPECIFICALLY IT ADDRESSES TECHNOLOGIES HIGHLIGHTED IN THE 2015 NASA SPACE TECHNOLOGY ROADMAPS REPORT INCLUDING: TERRAIN ADHESION (#4.2.8.3) GRAPPLING (#4.3.7.1) FREE-FLOATING ROBOTS (#4.2.4.1) AND ONBOARD TRAJECTORY PLANNING AND OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHMS (#5.4.2.3).