Planning end effector trajectories for a serially linked, floating-base robot with changing support polygon

We present a framework for the planning of end effector trajectories for serially linked robots with a non-fixed, also known as floating, support base. The FBSR (Floating Base, Serial Reach) planning algorithm extends the capabilities of serially linked, floating-base robots by planning to maintain stability while transferring modules from a weight-bearing role to the active, manipulator-like portion of the robot as needed to extend the robot´s reach. During planning, we employ several methods such as random restarts and dynamic weighting of the optimization cost function sub-goals to reliably provide stable solution trajectories. We experimentally validate this algorithm on a 16 degree of freedom snake robot, and demonstrate the successful execution of generated plans.