Burs of free C-space: A novel structure for path planning

Abstract

This paper presents a new approach to C-space exploration and path planning for robotic manipulators using the structure named bur of free C-space. This structure builds upon the so-called bubble, which is a local volume of free C-space, easily computed using the distance information in the workspace. We show how the same distance information can be used to compute the bur that can reach substantially beyond the boundary of the bubble. It is shown how burs can be used to form a rapidly exploring bur tree (RBT): a space-filling tree that resembles RRT. Such a structure can easily be used within a suitably tailored path planning algorithm. Simulation study shows how the RBT-based algorithm outperforms the classical RRT-based method.