Smooth path planning around elliptical obstacles using potential flow for non-holonomic Robots

Abstract

In this paper, an efficient path planning method for non-holonomic robots to avoid elliptical obstacles for RoboCup soccer matches is presented. A hydrodynamic flow field is formulated to model obstacles and target locations. Previous research considers the flow about elliptical and plate obstacles as a superposition of multiple flow fields about circular obstacles. The proposed approach utilises the Joukowsky transform to form a path about an elliptical obstacle with a single flow field. It is shown that the resulting motion satisfies C ∈∞∈ continuity at all times, desired for mobile robots. The application of different obstacle shapes in the context of RoboCup soccer matches is also considered and simulated. © 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.