Trajectory planning

Abstract

For the execution of a specific robot task, it is worth considering the main features of motion planning algorithms. The goal of trajectory planning is to generate the reference inputs to the motion control system which ensures that the manipulator executes the planned trajectories. The user typically specifies a number of parameters to describe the desired trajectory. Planning consists of generating a time sequence of the values attained by an interpolating function (typically a polynomial) of the desired trajectory. This chapter presents some techniques for trajectory generation, both in the case when the initial and final point of the path are assigned (point-to-point motion), and in the case when a finite sequence of points are assigned along the path (motion through a sequence of points). First, the problem of trajectory planning in the joint space is considered, and then the basic concepts of trajectory planning in the operational space are illustrated. The treatment of the motion planning problem for mobile robots is deferred to Chap. 12.