HEURISTICS FOR LOCAL PATH PLANNING

A heuristic technique for solving the problem of path planning based on local information for a mobile robot with acceleration constraints moving amidst a set of stationary obstacles is described. The concept of safety is used to design a planning strategy. A path that maximizes the product of safety (based on local information) and attraction towards the goal is chosen. The safety function depends on the acceleration bounds. The attraction towards the goal depends on the distance from the goal. Two additional heuristics are proposed to improve the efficiency of the search process, and to enhance the ability of the robot to avoid obstacles. Furthermore, we incorporate a sensing capability such as vision in the planning model.