Mobile manipulator path planning based on artificial potential field: Application on RobuTER/ULM

Mobile manipulator is a mechanical system typically consisting of one articulated manipulator mounted on holonomic or non-holonomic mobile base. Artificial potential field is the mostly popular approaches in path planning for mobile robots and manipulator robots. However, few work only used potential field to solve path planning for mobile manipulators. The objective of this paper is to generate a collision-free path for a mobile manipulator in complex, known environments with obstacles using artificial potential field. The generated path connects an initial situation (x_E, y_E, z_E)Init to a predefined final situation (x_E, y_E, z_E)Fin for the end-effector of the robot. Implementation and experimental validations are done on the RobuTER/ULM mobile manipulator.