CPPA: A Fast Coverage Algorithm

Most of the coverage path planning algorithms are based on the back-and-forth motions of the robot. Back and forth motion forces the robot to take sharp turns. The turns take significant time: the robot must slow down, orient in reverse direction and then accelerate. This is the major limitation of the approaches based on the back-and-forth motion. In this paper, coverage path planning algorithm (CPPA) is proposed which minimizes the coverage time by using the curvature path. It is based on cellular decomposition and curvature path planning algorithm based on maximum curvature constraints. The limitation of this approach is that it is applicable to relatively large environment. Therefore, this algorithm is more suitable for the applications like plowing, bridge inspection, landmine search, etc. This approach is compared with algorithm based on back-and-forth motion and it is found that this approach covers the environment faster than the algorithm based on back-and-forth motion.