Basic Orbital And Robotic Simulation (BOARS)
The Simulations and Graphics Branch develops and maintains the Basic Orbital And Robotic Simulation (BOARS), a generic, customizable simulation that features two orbital vehicles in arbitrary orbits. One of the vehicles has an attached dynamic robotic manipulator. The multibody dynamics of the arm are coupled with the orbital dynamics of the base vehicle. Contact modeling and moving object management allow for capture of the other vehicle by the manipulator and coupling of the two vehicles’ dynamic states. This system makes it feasible to adapt any orbiting vehicles and robotics systems for analysis, evaluation and training needs. This simulation is built using DOUG, Trick, JEOD, IDF, and DCApp along with a suite of software packages developed at NASA’s Johnson Space Center
As an example, a modified version of this system, the Generic Robotics On-Orbit Trainer (GROOT), has been developed in collaboration with the United States Space Force (USSF).
