Kinematic control algorithms for on-line obstacle avoidance for redundant manipulators

The paper deals with kinematic control algorithms for on-line obstacle avoidance which allow a kinematically redundant manipulator to move in an unstructured environment without colliding with obstacles. The presented approach is based on the redundancy resolution at the velocity level. The primary task is determined by the end-effector trajectories and for obstacle avoidance the internal motion of the manipulator is used. The obstacle avoiding motion is defined in one-dimensional operational space and, hence, the system has less singularities making implementation easier. Instead of the exact pseudoinverse solution we propose an approximate one which is computationally more efficient and allows us to consider many simultaneously active obstacles without any problems. The fast cycle times of the numerical implementation enable use of the algorithm in real-time control. For illustration, some simulation results of a highly redundant planar manipulator moving in an unstructured and time-varying environment and experimental results of a four link planar manipulator are given.