Listen to this articleHave you ever wondered how mobile robots navigate the obstacles placed in their path? Path planning involves an optimal or feasible path determination for the robot to navigate from its current location to a desired destination by avoiding obstacles or other constraints.
A general overview of the path-planning process for intelligent mobile robots are:-
- Map representation where the robot needs for operation is represented in a suitable format. It is done using grid-based representations. The process involves the environment being divided into a grid of cells for complex representations.
- Sensing and Perception for robots with sensors such as cameras, LIDAR, or ultrasonic sensors for perceiving the surrounding environment. The obstacles are detected with Sensor data and determining the positions, sizes, and other relevant characteristics.
- With Sensor data, the robot can estimate its position and orientation within the map representation of the environment. An accurate path can be planned out with this information.
- The robot’s destination or goal is decided either by a human operator or as part of an autonomous task.
- Path planning can be done with various algorithms depending on the complexity of the environment and the desired objectives.
- Pathe execution with a feasible path generated with the robot’s control system for generating appropriate control signals to execute the desired trajectory. The robot’s motion, speed, and steering to follow are adjusted with the control system for an accurate planned path.
The choice of the path planning algorithm depends on the specific requirement of the robot, the environment, and the desired objects.
Source: IOP Science, Hindawi