Coupled dynamic modeling and simulation of an adhesive crawling robot on a satellite surface for on-orbit servicing

Adhesive crawling robots are promising for on-orbit servicing because of their high mobility, low cost, and adaptability. However, existing studies mainly address adhesive materials, robot mechanisms, or flexible spacecraft dynamics separately, while the dynamic coupling caused by adhesive attach–detach operations on flexible satellites remains insufficiently quantified. This paper develops a rigid–flexible multibody model for an adhesive crawling robot operating on a flexible satellite. The adhesive interaction is not treated as a prescribed load, but as a contact-state-dependent generalized force determined by rough-surface fibrillar contact, pre-pressure, and unloading history. Based on this framework, adhesion-parameter effects, attach–detach position sensitivity, and multi-cycle crawling responses are investigated. The results show that structural disturbances depend strongly on crawling location and surface roughness, and low-disturbance regions can be identified for crawling operation planning. Within these regions, repeated attach–detach excitation does not cause noticeable vibration accumulation. The proposed model provides a basis for structural safety assessment of adhesive crawling robots in on-orbit servicing.