Collision-Free Path Planning for Robot Manipulator using SOM

Abstract

The basic function of on industrial robot system is to move objects in the workspace fast and accurately. One difficulty in performing this function is that the path of robot should be programmed to avoid the collision with obstacles, that is, tools, or facilities. This path planning requires much off-line programming time. In this study, a SOM technique to find the collision-free path of robot in real time is developed. That is, the collision-free map is obtained through SOM learning and a collision-free path is found using the map in real time during the robot operation. A learning procedure to obtain the map and an algorithm to find a short path using the map is developed and simulated. Finally, a path smoothing method to stabilize the motion of robot is suggested.