Lecture_8

Motion Planning
(Continued )
Algorithms

¡ Start-Goal Methods
¡ Map-Based Approaches
¡ Cellular Decompositions

2
What is a good path?

Completeness

3
Basics: Metrics
l There are many different ways to measure
a path:
l Time
l Distance traveled
l Expense
l Distance from obstacles
l Etc…

4
Start-Goal Algorithm:
Lumelsky Bug Algorithms

5
Bug 2 Spiral

6
Start-Goal Algorithm: Potential Functions

7
The Wavefront

l  To find the shortest path, according to your metric, simply

always move toward a cell with a lower number
¡  The numbers generated by the Wavefront planner are roughly proportional
to their distance from the goal

Two
possible
shortest
paths
shown

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Wavefront (Overview)

l Divide the space into a grid.

l Number the squares starting at the start in
either 4 or 8 point connectivity starting at
the goal, increasing till you reach the start.
l Your path is defined by any uninterrupted
sequence of decreasing numbers that lead
to the goal.

9
The Configuration Space

l What it is
¡ A set of “reachable” areas constructed from
knowledge of both the robot and the world.
l How to create it
¡ First abstract the robot as a point object.
Then, enlarge the obstacles to account for the
robot’s footprint and degrees of freedom
¡ In our example, the robot was circular, so we
simply enlarged our obstacles by the robot’s
radius (note the curved vertices)

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Configuration Space: the robot has...

l A Footprint
¡  The amount of space a robot
occupies
l Degrees of Freedom
¡  The number of variables necessary
to fully describe a robot’s
configuration in space
θ

x,y

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Configuration Space: Accommodate Robot Size

Free Space

Obstacles

Robot
x,y (treat as point object)
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What if the robot is not a point?

The Scout should probably not

be modeled as a point...

Nor should robots with extended

linkages that may contact obstacles...13
 Configuration Space

Where do we put ?

360

A qA
270
β B
180

β
α 90

qB
0 α
45 90 135 180
An obstacle in the robot’s workspace

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 Configuration Space Obstacle
How do we get from A to B ?
Reference configuration

360
qA
A 270
β B
180

β
α 90

qB
0 α
45 90 135 180
An obstacle in the robot’s workspace
The C-space representation
of this obstacle… 15
Two Link Path

16
Map-Based Approaches:
Roadmap Theory

l  Properties of a roadmap:
¡  Accessibility: there exists a
collision-free path from the start
to the road map
¡  Departability: there exists a
collision-free path from the
roadmap to the goal.
¡  Connectivity: there exists a
collision-free path from the start
to the goal (on the roadmap).

l  a roadmap exists ⇔ a path exists

l  Examples of Roadmaps
–  Generalized Voronoi Graph (GVG)
–  Visibility Graph 17
Roadmap: Visibility Graph

l Formed by connecting all “visible” vertices, the

start point and the end point, to each other
l For two points to be “visible” no obstacle can
exist between them
¡ Paths exist on the perimeter of obstacles
l In our example, this produces the shortest path.
However, the close proximity of paths to
obstacles makes it dangerous.

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The Visibility Graph in Action (Part 1)

l  First, draw lines of sight from the start and goal to

all “visible” vertices and corners of the world.

goal

start

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The Visibility Graph in Action (Part 2)

l  Second, draw lines of sight from every vertex of every

obstacle like before. Remember lines along edges are also
lines of sight.

goal

start

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The Visibility Graph in Action (Part 3)

l  Second, draw lines of sight from every vertex of every

obstacle like before. Remember lines along edges are also
lines of sight.

goal

start

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The Visibility Graph in Action (Part 4)
l  Second, draw lines of sight from every vertex of every
obstacle like before. Remember lines along edges are also
lines of sight.

goal

start

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 The Visibility Graph (Done)
l  Repeat until you’re done.

goal

start

23
Visibility Graph Overview

l  Start with a map of the world, draw lines of sight from the
start and goal to every “corner” of the world and vertex of
the obstacles, not cutting through any obstacles.
l  Draw lines of sight from every vertex of every obstacle
like above. Lines along edges of obstacles are lines of
sight too, since they don’t pass through the obstacles.

l  If the map was in Configuration space, each line potentially

represents part of a path from the start to the goal.
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 Roadmap: GVG
l  A GVG is formed by paths equidistant from the two closest objects

•  This generates a very safe roadmap which avoids obstacles as

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much as possible
Two-Equidistant
l Two-equidistant surface
Sij = {x ∈ Qfree : d i ( x) − d j ( x) = 0}

QOi

QOj

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More Rigorous Definition
Going through obstacles

QOi
QOk

QO j SSij d k ( x) ≤ d i ( x) = d j ( x)

Two-equidistant face

Fij = {x ∈ SS ij : d i ( x) = d j ( x) ≤ d h ( x), ∀h ≠ i, j}

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General Voronoi Diagram
n −1 n
GVD = ∪ ∪F ij
i =1 j =i +1

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Voronoi Diagram (L2)

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Note the curved edges
Voronoi Diagram (L1)

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Note the lack of the curved edges
Cell Decompositions: Trapezoidal
Decomposition
l  A way to divide the world into smaller regions
l  Assume a polygonal world

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Cell Decompositions: Trapezoidal
Decomposition

l  Simply draw a vertical line from each vertex until you hit an obstacle.
This reduces the world to a union of trapezoid-shaped cells

32
Applications: Coverage
l  By reducing the world to cells, we’ve essentially abstracted the world to
a graph.

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 Find a path

l  By reducing the world to cells, we’ve essentially abstracted the world to

a graph.

34
Find a path

l  With an adjacency graph, a path from start to goal can be found by

simple traversal

start goal

35
Find a path

l  With an adjacency graph, a path from start to goal can be found by

simple traversal

start goal

36
Find a path

l  With an adjacency graph, a path from start to goal can be found by

simple traversal

start goal

37
Find a path

l  With an adjacency graph, a path from start to goal can be found by

simple traversal

start goal

38
Find a path

l  With an adjacency graph, a path from start to goal can be found by

simple traversal

start goal

39
Find a path

l  With an adjacency graph, a path from start to goal can be found by

simple traversal

start goal

40
Find a path

l  With an adjacency graph, a path from start to goal can be found by

simple traversal

start goal

41
Find a path

l  With an adjacency graph, a path from start to goal can be found by

simple traversal

start goal

42
Find a path

l  With an adjacency graph, a path from start to goal can be found by

simple traversal

start goal

43
Find a path

l  With an adjacency graph, a path from start to goal can be found by

simple traversal

start goal

44
Find a path

l  With an adjacency graph, a path from start to goal can be found by

simple traversal

start goal

45
Applications: Coverage

l  First, a distinction between sensor and

detector must be made
l  Sensor: Senses obstacles
l  Detector: What actually does the coverage
l  We’ll be observing the simple case of
having an omniscient sensor and having
the detector’s footprint equal to the
robot’s footprint

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Cell Decompositions: Trapezoidal
Decomposition

l  How is this useful? Well, trapezoids can easily be covered with simple back-
and-forth sweeping motions. If we cover all the trapezoids, we can effectively
cover the entire “reachable” world.

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 Applications: Coverage
l  Simply visit all the nodes, performing a sweeping motion in each, and
you’re done.

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Conclusion: Complete Overview

l  The Basics
¡  Motion Planning Statement
¡  The World and Robot
¡  Configuration Space
¡  Metrics
l  Path Planning Algorithms
¡  Start-Goal Methods
l  Lumelsky Bug Algorithms
l  Potential Charge Functions
l  The Wavefront Planner
¡  Map-Based Approaches
l  Generalized Voronoi Graphs
l  Visibility Graphs
¡  Cellular Decompositions => Coverage
l  Done with Motion Planning!
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