An obstacle avoidance method for redundant manipulators based on artificial potential field

摘要

In this paper, we present an obstacle avoidance method for redundant manipulators based on artificial potential field. The proposed method fits for redundant manipulators with obstacles and other manipulators. Considering the shape of manipulator joints and obstacles, we set up the collision detection model by projecting the obstacles and the joints of other manipulators to link coordinates. In order to calculate the distance between detected bodies, we simplify the joints as line segments and simply the special obstacles as sphere. In this case, suppose the artificial potential field only effects between the nearest points on every joint and obstacles, there is a force repel the manipulator from obstacles caused by artificial potential field. The simulation results based on a 9-DOF hyper-redundant manipulator, which was designed and made in our laboratory, fully substantiated the efficacy and superiority of the proposed method.