Perception-aware Path Planning

In this paper, we give a double twist to the problem of planning under uncertainty. State-of-the-art planners seek to minimize the localization uncertainty by only considering the geometric structure of the scene. In this paper, we argue that motion planning for vision-controlled robots should be perception aware in that the robot should also favor texture-rich areas to minimize the localization uncertainty during a goal-reaching task. Thus, we describe how to optimally incorporate the photometric information (i.e., texture) of the scene, in addition to the the geometric one, to compute the uncertainty of vision-based localization during path planning. To avoid the caveats of feature-based localization systems (i.e., dependence on feature type and user-defined thresholds), we use dense, direct methods. This allows us to compute the localization uncertainty directly from the intensity values of every pixel in the image. We also describe how to compute trajectories online, considering also scenarios with no prior knowledge about the map. The proposed framework is general and can easily be adapted to different robotic platforms and scenarios. The effectiveness of our approach is demonstrated with extensive experiments in both simulated and real-world environments using a vision-controlled micro aerial vehicle.Comment: 16 pages, 20 figures, revised version. Conditionally accepted for IEEE Transactions on Robotic

Hierarchical D ∗ algorithm with materialization of costs for robot path planning

In this paper a new hierarchical extension of the D ∗ algorithm for robot path planning is introduced. The hierarchical D ∗ algorithm uses a down-top strategy and a set of precalculated paths (materialization of path costs) in order to improve performance. This on-line path planning algorithm allows optimality and specially lower computational time. H-Graphs (hierarchical graphs) are modified and adapted to support on-line path planning with materialization of costs and multiple hierarchical levels. Traditional on-line robot path planning focused in horizontal spaces is also extended to vertical and interbuilding spaces. Some experimental results are showed and compared to other path planning algorithms

Mobile transporter path planning

The use of a genetic algorithm (GA) for solving the mobile transporter path planning problem is investigated. The mobile transporter is a traveling robotic vehicle proposed for the space station which must be able to reach any point of the structure autonomously. Elements of the genetic algorithm are explored in both a theoretical and experimental sense. Specifically, double crossover, greedy crossover, and tournament selection techniques are examined. Additionally, the use of local optimization techniques working in concert with the GA are also explored. Recent developments in genetic algorithm theory are shown to be particularly effective in a path planning problem domain, though problem areas can be cited which require more research

Sampling-Based Temporal Logic Path Planning

In this paper, we propose a sampling-based motion planning algorithm that finds an infinite path satisfying a Linear Temporal Logic (LTL) formula over a set of properties satisfied by some regions in a given environment. The algorithm has three main features. First, it is incremental, in the sense that the procedure for finding a satisfying path at each iteration scales only with the number of new samples generated at that iteration. Second, the underlying graph is sparse, which guarantees the low complexity of the overall method. Third, it is probabilistically complete. Examples illustrating the usefulness and the performance of the method are included.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; extended version of the paper presented at IROS 201