Potential-based modeling of 2-D regions using nonuniform source distributions

One of existing approaches to path planning problems uses a potential funct ion to represent the topological structure of the free space. Newtonian pot ential was used in [1] to represent object and obstacles in the two-dimensi onal (2-D) workspace wherein their boundaries are assumed to be uniformly c harged. In this paper, more general, nonuniform distributions are considere d. It is shown that for linear or quadratic source distributions, the repul sion between two polygonal objects ran be evaluated analytically. Simulatio n results show that by properly adjusting the charge distribution along obs tacle/object boundaries, path planning results can be improved in terms of collision avoidance, path length, etc.