P. Moutarlier et al., SHORTEST PATHS FOR A CAR-LIKE ROBOT TO MANIFOLDS IN CONFIGURATION-SPACE, The International journal of robotics research, 15(1), 1996, pp. 36-60
Citations number
16
Categorie Soggetti
Computer Application, Chemistry & Engineering","Controlo Theory & Cybernetics","Robotics & Automatic Control
Reeds and Shepp (1990) studied the problem of finding the shortest fea
sible path for a car-like robot between two points in configuration sp
ace. We extend their results to find the shortest feasible path betwee
n a point and a manifold in configuration space. Our approach is based
on the Lagrange method for optimizing a function while constrained to
a manifold Solving the problem analytically is much faster than numer
ical discretization techniques. In addition to providing insight into
the underlying structure of Reeds and Shepp paths, this research has m
any applications in path planning. Planning algorithms often rely on t
he notion of clearance from obstacles, and for car-like mobile robots,
clearance is closely related to the length of the shortest feasible p
ath to an obstacle. In addition, one may want to bring the robot to a
predefined path (such as a skeleton,). Skeletonization and potential f
ield methods are two examples of planning paradigms where our algorith
m would prove useful.