An obstacle avoidance algorithm for a car pulling trailers with off-axle hitching

Abstract

A new algorithm is presented for planning motion among obstacles for a mobile robot system configured as a car pulling many trailers with off-axle hitching. In the special case of equal length hitches, upper bounds on the off-tracking of the trailers and hitches are the key component to the new path planning method, which only needs to plan a collision-free path for an "enlarged" lead car.