Optimal Robot Motion Planning in Constrained Workspaces Using Reinforcement Learning

Abstract

In this work, a novel solution to the optimal motion planning problem is proposed, through a continuous, deterministic and provably correct approach, with guaranteed safety and which is based on a parametrized Artificial Potential Field (APF). In particular, Reinforcement Learning (RL) is applied to adjust appropriately the parameters of the underlying potential field towards minimizing the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) error. The proposed method, outperforms consistently a Rapidly-exploring Random Trees (RRT*) method and consists a fertile advancement in the optimal motion planning problem.