Path optimization for robots in a constrained workspace

Abstract

In this work, the classical A* algorithm serves as path planner to generate the optimum path that would avoid collisions and take the start, collisions, and goal as an input and give the optimal path as an output. The work was done in a static environment, so the coordinates of the obstacles are predefined for the planner. The obtained path is just a sequence of points in space, and this path may be considered later the task space and the first step for another sequential operation like mapping from Cartesian space to joint space, topology optimization, dimensional synthesis, etc. The case study was Lab-Volt 5150 manipulator; it is an accurate educational five degree of freedom 5DOF stationary robot driven by five stepper motors.