Force Sensorless Impedance Control for a Space Robot to Capture a Satellite for On-orbit Servicing

This paper proposes the use of the disturbance observer for the design of an impedance controller to perform a safe capture of a target satellite by a space robot. First, the observer aids in the determination of the contact force between the servicer and the target. Later, once the almost perfect match between the actual and estimated contact force is demonstrated, the estimated force is used as input for an impedance controller with trajectory tracking. The advantages of estimating the contact force instead of measuring it are also discussed in the document. The design of the impedance control is performed such that the capturing process is compliant and safe, and thus it can help to advance towards an autonomous capture of space objects. A simulation experiment was set up to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. The results demonstrate that the contact force is bounded and behaves smoothly in a spring-mass-damper-like manner, imposing an stable contact between the robot's end-effector and the servicer's capturing spot.