A practical path and motion planner for a tractor-trailer robot

Abstract

We propose a practical approach which allow a tractor-trailer robot to plan and navigate a path, considering its shape and its kinematics constraint, however, without generating the configuration space for the sized robot. The operator can choose his preference of forward or backward paths by motion cost assignments. The path is generated in three stages: 1) road map analysis, 2) robot's states and transitions states generation, and 3) path search and motions generations. The planner has been tested on a tractor-trailer robot using different trailer sizes, demonstrating its ability for automatic generation of path, which may include even backward motions.