Geometrical motion planning for highly redundant manipulators using a continuous model

Abstract

... freedom (DOF) of the manipulator. We present a method which overcomes the complexity with a strong heuristic: utilizing redundancy by means of a continuous manipulator model. The continuous model allows us to change the complexity of the problem from a function of both the DOF of the manipulator (believed to be exponential) and the complexity of the environment (polynomial), to a polynomial function of the complexity of the environment only. v The power of the continuous model comes from the ability to decompose the manipulator into segments, with the number, size, and boundaries of the segments varying smoothly and dynamically. First, we develop motion schemas for the individual segments to achieve a basic set of goals in open and cluttered space. Second, we plan a smooth trajectory through free space for a point robot with a maximum curvature constraint. Third, the path generates a set of position subgoals for the continuous manipulator which are achieved