Informative Path Planning Algorithm for the Exploration of Unknown 2D Environments
Geronimo Macias, Kooktae Lee · 2023
This paper addresses the Informative Path Planning (IPP) algorithm for autonomous robots to explore unknown 2D environments for mapping purposes. IPP can be beneficial to many applications such as search and rescue and cave exploration, where mapping an unknown environment is necessary. Autonomous robots’ limited operation time due to their finite battery necessitates an efficient IPP algorithm, however, it is challenging because autonomous robots may not have any information about the environment. In this paper, we formulate a mathematical structure of the IPP problem along with the derivation of the optimal control input. Then, a discretized model for the IPP algorithm is presented as a solution for exploring an unknown environment. The proposed approach provides relatively fast computation time while being applicable to broad robot and sensor platforms. Various simulation results are provided to show the performance of the proposed IPP algorithm.