A Hierarchical Control Architecture for Space Robots in On-Orbit Servicing Operations

2025/09/26 by Bruschi, Pietro
Engineering · #Adaptive Control of Nonlinear Systems #FOS: Computer and information sciences #FOS: Electrical engineering #Robotics (cs.RO) #Space Satellite Systems and Control #Spacecraft Dynamics and Control #Systems and Control (eess.SY) #electronic engineering #information engineering

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2509.22955

openalex publication_date 2025/09/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

In-Orbit Servicing and Active Debris Removal require advanced robotic capabilities for capturing and detumbling uncooperative targets. This work presents a hierarchical control framework for autonomous robotic capture of tumbling objects in space. A simulation environment is developed, incorporating sloshing dynamics of the chaser, a rarely studied effect in space robotics. The proposed controller combines an inner Lyapunov-based robust control loop for multi-body dynamics with an outer loop addressing an extended inverse kinematics problem. Simulation results show improved robustness and adaptability compared to existing control schemes.

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