Trajectory Planning and Time-Adaptive Tracking Control for Multi-Operating-Point Traversal under Tightly-Coupled Dynamics for Space Robot

This paper investigates trajectory planning and control strategy for a space robot operating on a flexible structure, addressing the challenges of dynamic coupling, structural vibration, and time efficiency in multi-operating-point tasks. First, a tightly rigid-flexible coupling dynamic model is formulated to explicitly present the bidirectional interactions between the robot and the deformable structure. Based on this model, a trajectory planner is developed to achieve global time minimization traversal across multiple operation points. It introduces progress variables and soft complementarity constraints, enabling adaptive scheduling and vibration suppression without predefining traversal times. To ensure accurate execution, a Time-Adaptive Model Predictive Controller (TAMPC) based on state error feedback is designed, enabling the system to adjust control frequency dynamically in response to varying errors. Simulation experiments in three different task scenarios demonstrate that the proposed method can successfully traverse all operation points while effectively suppressing structural vibrations, maintaining base stability, and improving tracking accuracy and control robustness.