This thesis proposes an approach based on direct force control for controllinginteraction between a robotic manipulator and a free-floating object. For freefloatingobjects, there is no fixed base to absorb reaction forces during the manipulationor assembly process. Consequently, if the interaction forces are too high,objects can gain momentum and move away after contact. Hence, the objectiveof the controller during manipulation is to minimize the interaction forces whilemaintaining contact. The proposed approach achieves this by maintaining a smallconstant force along the motion direction and apparent reduction of manipulatorinertia along remaining degrees of freedom (DOF). Simulations were performedfor the interaction forces using MATLAB platform. The results emphasize theimportance of relative inertia of the robotic manipulator with respect to thefree-floating object. The experiments were carried out using a two-dimensionalmicro-gravity emulator (object floating on air-bed) and 7-DOF KUKA LWR4+manipulator arm. The control algorithms were implemented using OROCOS. Itwas verified that the proposed control law is capable of controlling the interactionforces and aligning the tools without pushing the object away. It is concludedthat direct force control works better with a free-floating object than implicitforce control algorithms, such as impedance control.