Abstract

This work investigates a passivity-based control strategy for stable near-hovering interaction of a fully actuated UAV with a rigid environment. The UAV is modeled as a floating rigid body on the Lie group SE(3) within the port-Hamiltonian framework, allowing a geometrically consistent representation of both motion and interaction dynamics.

An energy-balancing passivity-based control (EB-PBC) law is implemented by shaping the system’s total energy through an artificial potential function and injecting damping to ensure dissipation. The resulting controller behaves as a virtual six-degree-of-freedom spring-damper system with gravity compensation, enabling compliant interaction while preserving passivity. The approach guarantees asymptotic stability in free motion and contact stability during interaction with a passive environment.

The control strategy is evaluated in a Gazebo simulation environment, where the UAV performs sustained interaction against a vertical surface. Simulation results demonstrate stable contact behavior, consistent force regulation, and impedance-like dynamics without oscillations or energy injection. These findings highlight the effectiveness of energy-based, geometrically consistent control for aerial physical interaction and provide insight into the practical implementation of passivity-preserving controllers for contact-rich aerial tasks.

About the Speaker

Mr. Shajjad Dewan is a Master’s student in the Control and Instrumentation Engineering Department at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Saudi Arabia. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics and Industrial Engineering in Bangladesh in 2023. His research interest includes reinforcement learning, vision-based control, and geometric control for robotics applications.