Robotics paper index
Control Barrier Functions for Safe Free-Flying Robotic Spacecraft Operations in Tumbling Target Capture
One-line summary
A robotics research paper on Control Barrier Functions for Safe Free-Flying Robotic Spacecraft Operations in Tumbling Target Capture.
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Chinese explanation / 中文解读
中文解读待补充：本站会优先为 VLA、具身智能、人形机器人控制、机器人操作等高价值论文补充中文说明。
Original abstract
This paper presents a modular control barrier function (CBF) framework for safe free-flying robotic spacecraft operations during tumbling target capture. Motivated by latest ESA guidelines for safe close proximity operations, safety zones and requirements are translated into dedicated CBFs. The 13-DoF system is decomposed into translational, attitude, and robotic subsystems, each equipped with a safety filter that minimally modifies nominal control inputs in a lightweight quadratic program. The filters enforce a conical approach corridor, collision avoidance zone, attitude line-of-sight pointing, angular velocity limits, robotic joint limits, link-base collision avoidance, and actuator constraints. Dynamic coupling between subsystems is handled by treating upstream safe control commands as known interconnection inputs in the downstream safety filters, preserving modularity while supporting system-level safety. The framework is validated in an on-orbit servicing scenario, including final approach, angular rate synchronization, and tumbling target grasping, using the high-fidelity astrodynamics simulator Basilisk. Monte Carlo simulation results demonstrate runtime efficiency and operational safety for various tumbling rates.
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