Multi-Objective Path Planning for Autonomous Robots Using Reconfigurable Analog VLSI

This paper presents a Multi-Objective path planning approach using reconfigurable Analog-Very-Large-Scale-Integrated (AVLSI) circuits. It is significant because it is the first example of floating-gate based analog resistive grid circuits used for Multi-Objective path planning. The two path planning objectives are 1) minimizing path length and 2) minimizing path cost. Three hardware experimental results are presented that implement the approach using a Field Programmable Analog Array (FPAA) circuit. First, an example demonstrates a simple proof-of-concept. Second, an example shows how the FPAA solution compares to an entire solution set for a specific Start and Goal path planning problem. Third, an example shows how the FPAA solution compares to two edge-cases. The edge-cases are the two ideals: ideal lowest cost path, and ideal shortest distance path. Based on these foundational proof-of-concept hardware results, larger environment grids than are currently implementable on the FPAA hardware were simulated to predict performance if a custom FPAA application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) was built for this Multi-Objective path planning purpose. Finally, analysis is presented to address this method's computational complexity.