Autonomous Mobile Robots and Multi-Robot Systems

6Motion in Local Coordinates

Shraga Shoval

The chapter discusses the problem of online motion planning and navigation where the robot's position is defined either with respect to locally accessible landmarks or with respect to other robots in two and three dimensions. The discourse reviews the methods of motion planning for ground and aerial vehicles and, in particular, considers the methods of positioning by the use of local maps and localization with respect to the common target.

6.1 Global Motion Planning and Navigation

The motion planning problem is defined as the construction of a continuous path for a robot from a start configuration S to a target configuration T while satisfying a set of constraints according to the task's requirements (e.g. avoid contact with objects, go via a set of waypoints, perform specific tasks along the route, etc.). In general, the configuration of a robot (static or mobile) describes its position and shape in the working space, and the configuration complexity is determined by the robot and by the environment. For example, the configuration of a small mobile robot that moves on a flat surface consists of two dimensions (e.g., x and y position), while a larger unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) may have six‐dimension configuration (three lateral position and three orientation coordinates).

Motion can take place in a 2D or 3D Euclidean workspace and in various types of environments such as ground, underground, sea, undersea, and aerial. When ...