Robot path planning based on retraction method and numeric navigation function
Bo Zhang · Journal of Tsinghua University(Science and Technology) · 1998
Robot's work space and configuration space is discretized as bitmaps and grids. A fast retraction from free space to a lower dimensional skeleton is performed by a wavefront expansion procedure. It combines the retraction method of motion planning with potential fields, and it forms a computational method for a complete numeric navigation function. The main algorithms of the quick retraction and navigation function computation are given. Taking building's contour of Tsinghua campus as obstacle space, a path planner with extended functionality is implemented under a smooth terrain environment. Simulation experiment included demonstrates that the method has the following capabilities: fast planning speed and effective coordination between global and local planning. It can also solve problems for robots with many more degrees of freedom in high dimensional space.