Factor-guided motion planning for a robot arm

Motion planning for robotic arms is important for real, physical world applications. The planning for arms with high-degree-of-freedom (DOF) is hard because its search space is large (exponential in the number of joints), and the links may collide with static obstacles or other joints (self-collision). In this paper we present a motion planning algorithm that finds plans of motion from one arm configuration to a goal arm configuration in 2D space assuming no self-collision. Our algorithm is unique in two ways: (a) it utilizes the topology of the arm and obstacles to factor the search space and reduce the complexity of the planning problem using dynamic programming; and (b) it takes only polynomial time in the number of joints under some conditions. We provide a sufficient condition for polytime motion planning for 2D-space arms: if there is a path between two homotopic configurations, an embedded local planner finds a path within a polynomial time. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm improves the performance of path planning for 2D arms.

Authors

• Jaesik Choi
• Eyal Amir

Keywords

• Motion planning
• Orbital robotics
• Arm
• Path planning
• Dynamic programming
• Polynomials
• Intelligent robots
• Urban planning
• Manipulators
• Shape
• Robotic Arm
• Degrees Of Freedom
• Search Space
• Configuration Space
• Homotopy
• 2D Space
• Number Of Joints
• Preconditioning
• Joint Position
• Combination Of Algorithms
• Joint Movement
• End-effector
• Pivot Point
• EU Energy
• High Degree Of Freedom
• Arm Joints
• Representative Configurations
• Unit Action
• Goal Position
• Angular Orientation
• Postconditioning