3D Path Planning and Real-Time Simulation for Robot Manipulators With Applications to Aerospace Manufacturing

Abstract

This paper presents a practical scheme for path and trajectory generation with applications in real-time simulation of robotic systems. The path planning is solved as a series of local obstacle avoidance problems which produce via points in the 3D Cartesian space as well as the normal vector to the obstacle surface at each via point. This vector is later utilized for trajectory generation. An intermediate orientation representation is used to guarantee continuity at the angular acceleration level for real-time simulation and control purposes. The proposed method is implemented in a real-time simulation environment for testing and final application. The real-time data generation allows hardware-in-the loop simulation, which is crucial in many aerospace applications.