New Collision Control Approach for Space Robots Capturing Non-Cooperative Spacecraft

Collisions between the end-effector (EE) and the target are inevitable in robotic arm-based non-cooperative spacecraft capture tasks. These collisions can pose negative effects, such as harming the robotic arm and causing the EE to move away from the target, significantly increasing the risk of mission failure. Existing research demonstrated that implementing active collision control can effectively mitigate these negative effects. This paper proposes a new one-dimensional collision control method named force-feedback compliance resistance control (FFCRC) to regulate the collision process in capturing tasks. Compared to existing methods, FFCRC has three primary advantages: the first is that it simultaneously achieves two critical control objectives, reducing the maximum contact force and preventing separation; the second is that FFCRC does not rely on prior knowledge, such as target inertial parameters and contact parameters, significantly facilitating the approach’s implementation; the third is that FFCRC exhibits better adaptability to varying environmental conditions, eliminating the need for control parameter tuning. We proved the effectiveness of the FFCRC method through theoretical analysis. To apply this method in the three-dimensional capture missions of space robots, an FFCRC-based control scheme is introduced. Numerical simulation results demonstrated the effectiveness and robustness of this control scheme across various capture scenarios.