Title: Intelligent Perception and Control for Spacecraft Proximity Operations with Non-Cooperative Targets

Abstract:  Spacecraft proximity operations with non-cooperative targets, as enabling technologies for some current and near-future missions such as removing space debris, repairing defunct satellites, etc., have garnered extensive attention. The success of these missions heavily relies on accurate target perception and safe proximity control. However, the non-cooperative nature of targets and the complexities of the space environment pose significant challenges for the target perception and control of spacecraft proximity operations. In this talk, I would like to share our recent research advances on the intelligent perception and control for spacecraft proximity operations with non-cooperative targets. The main research contents include: 1) intelligent target perception in the complex space environment, including representation and determination of semantic information, three-dimensional reconstruction, and pose measurement of space non-cooperative targets; 2) reinforcement-learning-based intelligent proximity control under complex motion and physical constraints; 3) simulation and experimental validation of the proposed method in typical scenes. The research results provide significant theoretical and technical support for the autonomous manipulation and control of space non-cooperative targets. Finally, I shall close by discussing on-going and future research avenues that can further address some practical engineering problem in spacecraft proximity operations.

Qinglei Hu obtained his B.Eng. degree in electrical and electronic engineering from Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China, in 2001, and his Ph.D. degree with the specialization in guidance and control from Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China, in 2006. From 2003 to 2014, he was with the Department of Control Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, and then he joined Beihang University in 2014 as a Full Professor. His current research interests include intelligent perception and control, fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant control, and their applications in autonomous spacecraft systems. He has published five monographs in Elsevier, Springer, etc.,, and 80+ journal papers in IEEE transactions and AIAA journals. He has authorized 30+ national invention patents. He has won the second prize of national Technological Invention Award and the first prize of national defense technological invention Award. He has been appointed the Changjiang Distinguished Professorship, and has been selected as Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researchers from 2016-2022. Currently, he serves as an Associate Editor for Aerospace Science and Technology.

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Title: A Fully Actuated System Approach to Underactuated Systems Control—The Example of Cubli

Abstract: The Cubli is an interesting underactuated mechatronics system with reaction wheels mounted on its three faces. It can balance on one of its corners or edges by applying torques to the reaction wheels. Existing methods use linearization-based LQR or backstepping methods for its attitude control. In this talk, we will discuss our attempts on adopting the fully actuated system (FAS) approach to attitude control of Cubli, touching on aspects of model transformation, disturbance rejection, and closed-loop control. Both 2D and 3D cases will be discussed. Comparisons with existing methods will also be presented using simulation and hardware experiments, showcasing the FAS approach’s advantages in maintaining robustness under varying/abrupt disturbances.

He Kong received the Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, China, Master’s degree in Control Science and Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China, and the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Newcastle, Australia, respectively. He was a Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Field Robotics, the University of Sydney, Australia, during 2016–2021. In early 2022, he joined the Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China, where he is currently an Associate Professor. His research interests include active multi-modal perception, robot audition, state estimation, control applications. He is currently serving on the editorial board of IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, IEEE Sensors Letters, International Journal of Adaptive Control and Signal Processing, Proceedings of the IMechE-Part I: Journal of Systems and Control Engineering, Journal of Climbing and Walking Robots. He has also served as an Associate Editor on the IEEE CSS Conference Editorial Board and for the IEEE RAS flagship conferences such as the IEEE ICRA, IEEE/RSJ IROS, IEEE CASE, etc. As a co-recipient, he has received several awards, including the Best Paper Award at the 14-th International Conference on Indoor Positioning and Indoor Navigation in 2024, the Outstanding Poster Prize at the 5th Annual Conference of China Robotics Society in 2024, a Finalist for the Young Author Award at the 1st IFAC Workshop on Robot Control in 2019.