Study on the Configuration Space Based Algorithmic Path Planning of Industrial Robots in an Unstructured Congested Three-Dimensional Space: An Approach Using Visibility Map

摘要

Obstacle avoidance and subsequently collision-free path planning is a potential field of robotics research, specially in the perspective of today's industrial scenario. In this paper, the celebrated method, namely, 'Visibility Map' is being used to generate feasible collision-free near-optimal safe path(s) for a three- dimensional congested robot workspace using heuristic algorithms. The final path is obtainable in terms of joint configurations, by considering the Configuration Space of the task-space. The developed algorithms have been verified by considering typical 2D workspaces at the onset, cluttered with different obstacles (convex and/or concave) with regular geometries and later on, with the real spatial manifold. The outcome of these algorithms has been found instrumental in programming an industrial robot in order to perform a series of task in the shop-floor. A case-study reveals the effectiveness of the heuristics involved in the developed algorithms, by virtue of the successful application in an unstructured industrial environment to carry out robotized material handling operation in real-time.