Soft Inflatable Robotic Systems for Space Applications: A Survey

Abstract

Soft inflatable robotic systems and structures are emerging as transformative technologies for space applications, offering compelling advantages in mass efficiency, compact stowage, compliance, and adaptability over traditional rigid-body systems. This survey provides a comprehensive review of the intersection of soft robotics, inflatable structures, and space engineering, organised around a unifying thesis: the same high-strength fabric technologies (Vectran, Kevlar, Nextel) that enable inflatable habitats also enable compliant debris capture mechanisms and large deployable shields. We examine two primary application domains---active debris removal, where soft compliant systems address the fragmentation paradox inherent in rigid capture, and space exploration, where inflatable habitats offer order-of-magnitude mass efficiency improvements over metallic modules. Eight enabling technology areas are reviewed: materials and structures, deployment mechanics, actuation, sensing and structural health monitoring, power systems, thermal management, attitude and orbit control, and robotic in-orbit assembly. We identify five critical research gaps, including the absence of quantitative soft-versus-rigid fragmentation comparisons, the lack of flight heritage for soft robotic capture, and the unexplored rigid-to-flexible assembly interface. A research roadmap spanning 5-year and 15-year horizons is proposed, with the most flight-ready near-term demonstrator identified as a gecko-adhesive gripper on an inflatable arm with fibre Bragg grating structural health monitoring. This survey differentiates itself from prior reviews in Progress in Aerospace Sciences by focusing specifically on soft and inflatable systems---a technology class not covered by existing reviews of rigid space robotics or contact/contactless debris removal.

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