On November 9, the School of Electrical Engineering (EE) and Department of Aerospace Engineering (AE) co-hosted the 2022 Space Robotics Workshop. This day-long workshop was free for all KAIST students and invited various professionals to discuss several topics in the field of space robotics. The workshop began with a welcoming remark from the heads of both EE and AE, followed by three separate sessions. 

The first session consisted of three distinguished talks, beginning with Terry Fong, the Director of the Intelligent Robotics Group at NASA’s Ames Research Center. He discussed the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER), developed by NASA in their mission to search for ice on the moon. VIPER will land on the south pole of the moon in November 2024 and sample ice from four different lunar environments for around 100 days. After his talk, Professor Richard Linares from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) discussed the uncertainties of employing autonomous robots in microgravity systems, such as Astrobee, NASA’s free-flying robotic system deployed at the International Space Station. The session culminated with a talk by Timothy Barfoot, the Associate Director of the Robotics Institute at the University of Toronto, wherein he discussed different ways in which advancements in terrestrial robotics (such as autonomous cars and drones) can help achieve breakthroughs in space robotics. He proposed ways in which his current research in mobile robot navigation can be applied to lunar and planetary navigation in the future.

The second session consisted of four presentations by Korean researchers. In the first presentation, Jaedong Seong, a senior researcher at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), covered the current efforts of KARI in managing and securing Korea’s space assets. The second talk was given by Professor Hae-Dong Kim from Gyeongsang National University, who discussed the role of satellites in combating the problem of space debris as well as servicing in-orbit satellites to extend their lifetimes. The third talk was given by Professor Dae-Young Lee from KAIST, introducing origami-inspired methods for creating foldable structures to optimize space utilization. Lastly, Professor Min Jun Kim from KAIST discussed aerial manipulation — applications where an aerial vehicle acts by direct contact on an environment — and its usage in their new system, cable-Suspended Aerial Manipulator (SAM), that minimizes risk of a crash. 

The third session comprised three talks from researchers at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The first talk was given by Alin Albu Schaeffer, who is the director of the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics at DLR. His talk focused on the ways robots can be used to free humans from those tasks in space and planetary exploration which may be dangerous or repetitive, allowing them to focus on the more challenging and creative aspects. The second talk was given by Markus Grebenstein, in which he described the challenges faced in the JAVA MMX mission to the Martian moon Phobos and their solutions. Lastly, Marco De Stafano talked about systems built at DLR for equipping spacecraft with robotic manipulators to service in-orbit satellites, as well as on-ground validation of complete robotic missions. The workshop ended with closing remarks from Professor Min Jun Kim.