FAST ROBOT MOTION OPTIMIZATION WITH DISTANCE FIELD

摘要

A robotic collision avoidance motion optimization technique using a distance field constraint function is demonstrated. CAD or sensor data that represent obstacles in a robot work area are converted into voxels and a three-dimensional binary matrix of the voxel occupancy is created. A corresponding distance field matrix is then calculated, each cell in the distance field matrix containing a distance to a closest occupied cell. The distance field matrix is used as a condition function in a motion planning optimization problem, where the optimization problem is convexified and then solved iteratively to obtain a motion profile of the robot that avoids the obstacles and minimizes an objective function such as the distance traveled. The distance field optimization technique is calculated quickly and has a computing time that is independent of the number of obstacles. The optimization technique described is easy to set up because it does not require the creation of basic geometric bodies to approximate robot and obstacle shapes.