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Aerospace
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Physical Interaction of Floating-Base Robotics for Advancing Aerospace Technologies
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Physical Interaction of Floating-Base Robotics for Advancing Aerospace Technologies

A Special Issue of Aerospace (ISSN 2226-4310).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2025) | Viewed by 2326

Editor

Dr. Matteo Fumagalli

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Electrical and Photonics Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Anker Engelunds Vej 1, Bygning 101A, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
Interests: robot physical interaction; mechatronic design; floating-base robotics; compliant and variable stiffness mechanisms

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Physical interaction of floating-base systems is a key research topic that has been addressed in several technological domains, including aerial, underwater, legged, humanoids, and space robotics. To date, the efforts have been scattered and specifically focused on each of the individual domains. Although the working conditions are different, the dynamics of the robots and physical interaction requirements are very similar. These similarities and potential cross-domain synergies have not been investigated before. This Special Issue has the goal of bringing together (likely for the first time) researchers from these different fields, with the objective of identifying common research lines, issues, and barriers that can help advance the physical interaction capabilities of aerial and space technologies on Earth, in space, and on extra-terrestrial bodies. We seek new approaches and solutions that have been deployed individually in the four technological areas and that can be applied to solve current challenges in the aerospace sector.

Dr. Matteo Fumagalli
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Aerospace is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • floating-base manipulation
  • aerial and space robotics
  • underwater, legged and humanoid robotics methods for aerospace applications
  • dynamics and control of floating-base systems
  • robot physical interaction

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 6717 KB  
Article
Experimental Demonstration of an Adaptive, Attitude-Constrained Guidance Framework for Safe Docking on a Floating Satellite Platform
by Viswa Narayanan Sankaranarayanan, Sathyanarayanan Seshasayanan, Avijit Banerjee, Jakub Haluska and George Nikolakopoulos
Aerospace 2026, 13(5), 410; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace13050410 - 28 Apr 2026
Viewed by 774
Abstract
This article presents an experimental demonstration of an attitude-constrained adaptive guidance and control framework for safe autonomous docking, evaluated using a planar floating satellite platform testbed. The proposed approach combines a jerk-minimizing explicit guidance law, which enforces terminal constraints on position, velocity, and [...] Read more.
This article presents an experimental demonstration of an attitude-constrained adaptive guidance and control framework for safe autonomous docking, evaluated using a planar floating satellite platform testbed. The proposed approach combines a jerk-minimizing explicit guidance law, which enforces terminal constraints on position, velocity, and acceleration, with an adaptive tracking controller designed to handle modeling uncertainties, actuator limitations, and external disturbances. The guidance strategy generates a smooth, real-time trajectory for the chaser satellite, ensuring compatibility with limited onboard computation and maintaining high terminal accuracy. To ensure safe operation throughout the docking maneuver, a barrier-Lyapunov-based adaptive controller is augmented that imposes state constraints to enforce strict adherence to the desired trajectory with predefined nominal bounds. By virtue of the constraint, the tracking error is bounded within a pre-defined bound. The bound is not time-varying because the reference trajectory is designed to begin from the current state of the robot with minimum jerk. The complete framework is demonstrated through hardware-in-the-loop experiments using a planar floating satellite platform and a prototype docking station. Experimental results corroborate the efficacy of autonomously achieving docking while satisfying stringent terminal constraints on position, velocity, and orientation, demonstrating the framework’s robustness and practical applicability to on-orbit servicing missions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Physical Interaction of Floating-Base Robotics for Advancing Aerospace Technologies)
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14 pages, 863 KB  
Article
On Floating-Based System’s Center of Mass Shifting for Physical Interaction: A Case Study in Aerial Robotics
by Matteo Fumagalli
Aerospace 2026, 13(2), 144; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace13020144 - 2 Feb 2026
Viewed by 823
Abstract
Floating-base robotic systems rely critically on their inertial geometry to maintain stability and regulate interaction forces in the absence of fixed ground constraints. Their control authority additionally depends on the placement and orientation of actuators relative to the center of mass, which determines [...] Read more.
Floating-base robotic systems rely critically on their inertial geometry to maintain stability and regulate interaction forces in the absence of fixed ground constraints. Their control authority additionally depends on the placement and orientation of actuators relative to the center of mass, which determines the moment arms through which thrust or force inputs generate stabilizing actions. This paper develops a general theoretical framework showing that internal mass shifting provides a powerful, domain-independent mechanism for reshaping global system dynamics. Through geometric principles governing center-of-mass placement, moment-arm modification, and inertia redistribution, mass shifting enhances passive stability, reduces the torque induced by external disturbances, and improves the controllability of interaction-intensive tasks. The theory is first examined in a buoyancy-driven simulation of a two-mass floating body subjected to multi-sine wave excitation, which isolates the hydrostatic effects of center-of-mass displacement. To validate the generality of these principles, we further demonstrate their applicability in a radically different domain through real-world experiments on the AeroBull aerial robot, a multirotor platform equipped with an internal mass-shifting mechanism for aerial manipulation. Across both aquatic and aerial settings, mass shifting consistently improves stability, reduces control effort, and increases achievable interaction forces. These results establish internal mass redistribution as a platform-agnostic strategy for enhancing the stability and resilience of floating-base robots operating in uncertain and physically demanding environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Physical Interaction of Floating-Base Robotics for Advancing Aerospace Technologies)
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