Validation of Space Robotics in Underwater Environments via Disturbance Robustness Equivalency

Joris Verhagen; Elias Krantz; Chelsea Sidrane; David Dörner; Nicola De Carli; Pedro Roque; Huina Mao; Gunnar Tibert

cs.ROFeb 28, 2026

Validation of Space Robotics in Underwater Environments via Disturbance Robustness Equivalency

Authors: Joris Verhagen, Elias Krantz, Chelsea Sidrane, David Dörner, Nicola De Carli, Pedro Roque, Huina Mao, Gunnar Tibert,

Organizations: Division of Robotics, Perception and Learning, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. · School of Engineering Sciences, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. · Division of Decision and Control Systems, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. · Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States.

Abstract

We present an experimental validation framework for space robotics that leverages underwater environments to approximate microgravity dynamics. While neutral buoyancy conditions make underwater robotics an excellent platform for space robotics validation, there are still dynamical and environmental differences that need to be overcome. Given a high-level space mission specification, expressed in terms of a Signal Temporal Logic specification, we overcome these differences via the notion of maximal disturbance robustness of the mission. We formulate the motion planning problem such that the original space mission and the validation mission achieve the same disturbance robustness degree. The validation platform then executes its mission plan using a near-identical control strategy to the space mission where the closed-loop controller considers the spacecraft dynamics. Evaluating our validation framework relies on estimating disturbances during execution and comparing them to the disturbance robustness degree, providing practical evidence of operation in the space environment. Our evaluation features a dual-experiment setup: an underwater robot operating under near-neutral buoyancy conditions to validate the planning and control strategy of either an experimental planar spacecraft platform or a CubeSat in a high-fidelity space dynamics simulator.

Figures & tables

Fig. 1: A physical BlueROV underwater robot is utilized to validate a planner and controller which aim to inspect a passive target in space. While the environments are distinct, they share sufficient similarities in order to be used as a validation platform.

Fig. 2: Hardware results of the Feedback-Equivalent underwater-robot MPC of Eq. 17 on the BlueROV. (a): time-stamped images from the experiment, (b) planned and executed trajectory, (c) position and the maximal spatial deviation $\delta_{\phi_{uw}}=0.11\leq\rho_{\phi_{uw}}=0.25$ (indicating satisfaction of $\phi_{uw}$ ), (d) commanded force and torque with its actuation limits in dotted lines, (e) attitude, (f) estimated force and torque disturbance $\hat{\bm{d}}_{uw}$ with the admissible disturbance bounds $\alpha^{*}\mathcal{D}_{uw}$ . The observed disturbances again being bounded by the disturbance robustness degree $\alpha^{*}\mathcal{D}_{uw}$ with a satisfied specification provides experimental evidence of operation in the space environment, shown in Fig. 3 .

Fig. 3: Simulation results of the space-robot MPC of Eq. 15 on ATMOS. (a): time-stamped images from the experiment, (b) planned and executed trajectory in the 2D plane, (c) position and the maximal spatial deviation $\delta_{\phi_{sp}}=0.10\leq\rho_{\phi_{sp}}=0.25$ (indicating satisfaction of $\phi_{sp}$ ), (d) commanded force and torque with its actuation limits in dotted lines, (e) attitude, (f) estimated force and torque disturbances $\hat{d}_{sp}$ with the admissible disturbance bounds $\alpha^{*}\mathcal{D}_{sp}$ . The experimental evidence of the underwater validation experiment is translated to the space platform as long as the estimated force and torque disturbances acting on the CubeSat are within the admissible disturbance bounds $\alpha^{*}\mathcal{D}_{sp}$ which is shown in (f).

Fig. 4: Hardware results of the Feedback-Equivalent CubeSat MPC of Eq. 17 on the BlueROV. (a): time-stamped images from the experiment, (b) planned and executed trajectory in the 2D plane, (c) position and the maximal spatial deviation $\delta_{\phi_{uw}}=0.13\leq\rho_{\phi_{uw}}=0.19$ (indicating satisfaction of $\phi_{uw}$ ), (d) commanded force and torque with its actuation limits in dotted lines, (e) attitude, (f) estimated force and torque disturbances $\hat{d}_{uw}$ with the admissible disturbance bounds $\alpha^{*}\mathcal{D}_{uw}$ . The observed disturbances again being bounded by the disturbance robustness degree $\alpha^{*}\mathcal{D}_{uw}$ with a satisfied specification provides experimental evidence of operation in the space environment, shown in Fig. 5 .

Fig. 5: Simulation results of the CubeSat MPC of Eq. 15 on the CubeSat. (a): time-stamped images from the experiment, (b) planned and executed trajectory in the 2D plane, (c) position and the maximal spatial deviation $\delta_{\phi_{sp}}=0.05\leq\rho_{\phi_{sp}}=0.19$ (indicating satisfaction of $\phi_{sp}$ ), (d) commanded force and torque with its actuation limits in dotted lines, (e) attitude, (f) estimated force and torque disturbances $\hat{d}_{sp}$ with the admissible disturbance bounds $\alpha^{*}\mathcal{D}_{sp}$ . The experimental evidence of the underwater validation experiment is translated to the space platform as long as the estimated force and torque disturbances acting on the CubeSat are within the admissible disturbance bounds $\alpha^{*}\mathcal{D}_{sp}$ , shown in (f).

	center	widths	dimensions ∗	interval
A	$[2.25,-0.5,-\frac{\pi}{2}]$	$[0.5,0.5,\frac{\pi}{4}]$	[ $x$ , $y$ , $\psi$ ]	[20,25]
B	$[2,0.5,-\frac{\pi}{2}]$	$[0.5,0.5,\frac{\pi}{4}]$	[ $x$ , $y$ , $\psi$ ]	[0,37]
$C_{1}$	$[3,0.5,\frac{\pi}{2}]$	$[0.5,0.5,\frac{\pi}{4}]$	[ $x$ , $y$ , $\psi$ ]	[50,55]
$C_{2}$	$[3.25,-0.5,\frac{\pi}{2}]$	$[0.5,0.5,\frac{\pi}{4}]$	[ $x$ , $y$ , $\psi$ ]	[50,55]
$\underline{A}_{x}$	$[3,0,0,0,0]$	$[0.5,0.5,\frac{\pi}{8},\frac{\pi}{8}]$	[ $x$ , $y$ , $z$ , $\theta$ , $\psi$ ]	[20,25]
$\overline{A}_{x}$	$[5,0,0,0,\pi]$	$[0.5,0.5,\frac{\pi}{8},\frac{\pi}{8}]$	[ $x$ , $y$ , $z$ , $\theta$ , $\psi$ ]	[20,25]

TABLE I: Details on the STL specifications from Eq. 18 and Eq. 19 .

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Ignacio Torroba, David Dorner, Victor Nan Fernandez-Ayala, Mart Kartasev+13

Division of Aerospace, Moveability and Naval Architecture, Royal Institute of Technology, 10044 Stockholm, Sweden · Department of Decision and Control Systems, Royal Institute of Technology, 10044 Stockholm, Sweden · Department of Robotics, Perception and Learning, Royal Institute of Technology, 10044 Stockholm, Sweden+1

Space Robotics Robotics Underwater Robotics

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Field robotics research in maritime and space domains is constrained by a persistent gap between low-cost, low-fidelity simulation and costly offshore experimentation. Instrumented water tanks partially bridge this gap but often provide limited sensing, restricted experimental capabilities, and weak integration with simulation tools. To address these limitations, we present Marinarium, a modular, standalone experimental facility that provides a cost-effective intermediate testbed between simulation and field deployment. Marinarium combines a fully instrumented underwater and aerial operational volume with motion capture (MoCap), a retractable roof enabling both sheltered and open-air operation, a digital twin implemented in SMaRCSim, and direct integration with a planar space robotics laboratory, enabling both maritime and underwater space-analog experimentation. We present the design rationale of the facility and validate its capabilities through four representative studies in field robotics: (i) data-driven system identification of underwater vehicle dynamics; (ii) heterogeneous multi-domain robotic rendezvous; (iii) sim-to-real transfer for underwater robotics using learned dynamics residuals; and (iv) cross-domain validation of spacecraft autonomy using underwater surrogates. Together, these studies demonstrate that Marinarium enables reproducible, instrumented experimentation across multiple field robotics challenges that would otherwise require costly offshore deployments or be impractical to investigate using simulation alone.

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Space Robotics

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