Optimal path planning in the workspace for articulated robots using mixed integer programming

This paper considers the task of path planning for articulated robots such that the end effector is driven optimally between two points in the workspace while collision with dynamic obstacles is avoided. Compared to path planning in the configuration space, approaches in the workspace save the computationally expensive step of mapping obstacles from the workspace into the configuration space. The method presented here builds on a problem formulation as a mixed-integer program considering time-varying constraints resulting from moving obstacles, as well as state and input constraints depending on the region of the work space. The method is applied to a two-link robot with static and moving obstacles and is evaluated for different situations.