Continuous path planning for free-floating space manipulator based on genetic algorithm

Abstract

In this paper, a path planning method based on Genetic algorithm for free-floating space manipulator is proposed. Considering the non-holonomic characteristics of free-floating space manipulator, the kinematics model and dynamics coupling model are established first. In order to ensure the smoothness and continuity of the joint trajectory, the joint angle is parameterized by sinusoidal function with its arguments in fifth-order polynomial form. And then objective function is designed considering the end-effector position, the obstacle avoidance, and the trajectory cost. Finally, the Genetic algorithm is employed to search for the suitable values of the polynomial coefficients to optimize the objective function. The simulation verifies the effectiveness of the proposed method.