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After being selected to join the ESA Academy Experiments programme, three student teams from universities across Europe were invited to carry out the experimental part of their research projects in ESA\u2019s test facilities with support and guidance from experts.<\/p>\n
For their experiments, the student teams made use of ESA\u2019s ORBIT facility \u2013 a part of the\u00a0Orbital Robotic Laboratory\u00a0(ORL) located at ESTEC, the agency\u2019s technical heart in the Netherlands. ORBIT consists of a 43 m2<\/sup>\u00a0ultra-flat floor \u2013 the height difference between its lowest and highest points is less than a millimetre.<\/p>\n The Skywalker team from Aalborg University, Denmark, used the simulated two-dimensional microgravity environment to test the reinforcement learning algorithms they have developed for their robotic arm. Their project aims to demonstrate the concept of autonomous crawling in microgravity.<\/p>\n In the very first ORBIT facility experiment involving human participants, the V-STARS team from Birkbeck, University of London, and the University of Kent, UK, investigated the relationship between the human vestibular system (region of the inner ear responsible for body balance) and the perception of verticality in a microgravity environment.<\/p>\n The GRASP team from Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, explored an innovative approach to performing manoeuvres with non-cooperative objects in space. The robotic arm they have developed themselves is sporting an adhesive gripper inspired by geckos.<\/p>\n Read more<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \t\t\t