Path planning method with obstacle avoidance for manipulators in dynamic environment

Obstacle avoidance is of great importance for path planning of manipulators in dynamic environment. To help manipulators successfully perform tasks, a method of path planning with obstacle avoidance is proposed in this article. It consists of two consecutive phases, namely, collision detection and obstacle-avoidance path planning. The collision detection is realized by establishing point-cloud model and testing intersection of axis-aligned bounding boxes trees, while obstacle-avoidance path planning is achieved through preplanning a global path and adjusting it in real time. This article has the following contributions. The point-cloud model is of high resolution while the speed of collision detection is improved, and collision points can be found exactly. The preplanned global path is optimized based on the improved D-star algorithm, which reduces inflection points and decreases collision probability. The real-time path adjusting strategy satisfies the requirement of reachability and obstacle avoidance for manipulators in dynamic environment. Simulations and experiments are carried out to evaluate the validity of the proposed method, and the method is available to manipulators of any degree of freedom in dynamic environment.