Spline-Based Topology Generation for Path Planning of Mobile Robots Under Kinematic Constraints

Abstract

This paper introduces an approach for incorporating the often disregarded kinematic constraints of mobile robots into a graph-based path planning process. This is achieved by adapting the graph-representation from an automated topology generation in a preprocessing step. For this purpose, a subset of graph edges are replaced by splines, optimized for compliance with the kinematic constraints of the robot. We then show an adapted path planning algorithm, that allows for efficient navigation of the robot on the spline-amended graph, aiming for the determination of the fastest route. The evaluation conducted in this work assesses the impact of the enhanced graph representation on time cost, providing valuable insights into the effectiveness of the proposed approach.