Autonomous movement generation for manipulators with multiple simultaneous constraints using the attractor dynamics approach

The movement of autonomous agents in natural environments is restricted by potentially large numbers of constraints. To generate behavior that fulfills all given constraints simultaneously, the attractor dynamics approach to movement generation represents each constraint by a dynamical system with attractors or repellors at desired or undesired values of a relevant variable. These dynamical systems are transformed into vector fields over the control variables of a robotic agent that force the state of the whole system in directions beneficial to the satisfaction of the behavioral constraint. The attractor dynamics approach was recently successfully applied to the generation of manipulator motion trajectories avoiding collision with obstacles 1 and constraints on gripper orientation during reaching and grasping movements 2. Continuing that body of work, this paper proposes a system which generates movements satisfying both obstacle avoidance and gripper orientation constraints simultaneously. As an extension, the additional constraint of avoiding hardware limits for joint angles is included. Properties of the resulting system are demonstrated by a systematic study generating movements with a large number of constraints in different scene setups. Specific characteristics are highlighted by several showcase example movements.