Path planning for complex terrain navigation via dynamic programming

Abstract

This work considers the problem of planning optimal paths for a mobile robot traversing complex terrain. In addition to the existing obstacles, locations in the terrain where the slope is too steep for the mobile robot to navigate safely without tipping over become mathematically equivalent to extra obstacles. To solve the optimal path problem, we use a dynamic programming approach. The dynamic programming approach utilized does not suffer the difficulties associated with spurious local minima that the artificial potential field approaches do. In fact, a globally optimal solution is guaranteed to be found if a feasible solution exists. The method is demonstrated on several complex examples including very complex terrains.