Pseudo minimum translational distance between convex polyhedra (II) - Robot collision-free path planning

By using the pseudo minimum translational distance between convex objects, this paper presents two algorithms for robot path planning. First, an analy tically tractable potential field is defined in the robot configuration spa ce, and the concept of virtual obstacles is introduced and incorporated in the path planner to handle the local minima of the potential function. Seco nd, based on the Lipschitz continuity and differentiability of the pseudo m inimum translational distance, the flexible-trajectory approach is implemen ted. Simulation examples are given to show the effectiveness and efficiency of the path planners for both mobile robots and manipulators.