Cost based planning with RRT in outdoor environments

The Rapidly Exploring Random Tree (RRT) algorithm can be applied to the robotic path planning problem and performs well in challenging, dynamic domains. Traditional RRT methods use a binary cost function and they select portions of the tree for expansion based on the Euclidean distance to the target. However, in outdoor navigation, the relative cost of terrain can also provide useful input to a planning algorithm that traditional RRT methods cannot take advantage of. We present the Metric Adaptive RRT (MA-RRT), which integrates planning and fast execution for generating paths over a cost map. The MA-RRT algorithm considers underlying cost of a path when calculating the distance function for tree expansion. A heuristic value is also used for determining distance from a point to the target and an adaptive mechanism is employed for adjusting the heuristic on-line. We have implemented our approach in offline simulations and in outdoor robot experiments, and show that the MA-RRT algorithm can improve upon the quality of the path returned when cost is considered. The trade off between cost consideration and runtime performance is also presented.