  This paper presents a vision guidance and control method for autonomous
robotic capture and stabilization of orbital objects in a time-critical manner.
The method takes into account various operational and physical constraints,
including ensuring a smooth capture, handling line-of-sight (LOS) obstructions
of the target, and staying within the acceleration, force, and torque limits of
the robot. Our approach involves the development of an optimal control
framework for an eye-to-hand visual servoing method, which integrates two
sequential sub-maneuvers: a pre-capturing maneuver and a post-capturing
maneuver, aimed at achieving the shortest possible capture time. Integrating
both control strategies enables a seamless transition between them, allowing
for real-time switching to the appropriate control system. Moreover, both
controllers are adaptively tuned through vision feedback to account for the
unknown dynamics of the target. The integrated estimation and control
architecture also facilitates fault detection and recovery of the visual
feedback in situations where the feedback is temporarily obstructed. The
experimental results demonstrate the successful execution of pre- and
post-capturing operations on a tumbling and drifting target, despite multiple
operational constraints.
