2D Path Planning: A Configuration Space Heuristic Approach

In this paper we describe a heuristic technique for solving the 2D find-path problem for a rigid mobile body amidst a set of fixed obstacles of arbitrary shapes. The proposed approach tackles path planning as an informed search process in dis crete configuration space. Three heuristics are proposed to guide this search process, all of them relying on a global path computed from the R-MAT model of free-space (a retraction of MA T defined specifically for path planning). One of the heuristics guides the evolution of the two Cartesian degrees of freedom of the mobile body along the search, while the remaining two guide the evolution of its rotational degree of freedom. The benefits derived from the use of the proposed heuristics are twofold: on the one hand, a speed-up of the search process as compared to noninformed search algo rithms is attained, and on the other hand, the features of the resulting solution path can be somewhat controlled. Other advantages and shortcomings of the proposed path planning approach are discussed, with the practical interest of the overall process being justified by the experimental results ob tained.