Abstract
This paper is concerned with the issue of path optimization for manipulators in multi-obstacle environments. Aimed at overcoming the deficiencies of the sampling-based path planning algorithm with high path curvature and low safety margin, a path optimization method, named NA-OR, is proposed for manipulators, where the NA (node attraction) and OR (obstacle repulsion) functions are developed to refine the path by iterations. In the iterations of path optimization, the node attraction function is designed to pull the path nodes toward the center of their neighbor nodes, thereby reducing the path curvature and improving the smoothness. Also, the obstacle repulsion function is developed to push the path nodes out of the potentially unsafe region by generating a repulsive torque on the path nodes, thus improving the safety margin of the motion. By introducing the effect of NA-OR, the optimized path has a significant improvement in path curvature and safety margin compared with the initial path planned by Bi-RRT, which meaningfully enhances the operation ability of manipulators for the applications that give a strong emphasis on security. Experimental results on a 6-DOF manipulator in 4 scenarios demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method in terms of the path cost, safety margin, and path smoothness.
Keywords: manipulator, path planning, path optimization, obstacle avoidance, path curvature, safety margin
Footnotes
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 62225305, 12072088, 62003117, and 62003118), the National Defense Basic Scientific Research Program of China (Grant No. JCKY2020603B010), the Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province, China (Grant No. ZD2020F001), and the Lab of Space Optoelectronic Measurement & Perception (Grant No. LabSOMP-2021-06).
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