Method and apparatuses for path planning for a robotic manipulator
AssigneeOMRON Corporation
InventorsSiddharth Sanan, Soma Boubou, Andres Rodriguez Campo, Gaurav Misra, David von Edge, Kazuma Tabuchi, Sean Bailey
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Abstract
Disclosed methods and apparatuses provide an advantageous approach to path planning for moving a robotic manipulator from a starting pose to a goal pose, in cases where the goal pose is within unseen space or advancing the robotic manipulator to the goal pose requires movement through or in unseen space. A particular aspect of the approach is the use of an exploration procedure for efficiently exposing unseen space, for advancing the robotic manipulator to the goal pose.
Claims26
A method of path planning for movement of a robotic manipulator from a starting pose to a goal pose within a configuration space of the robotic manipulator, the method comprising:
- planning an overall path for the robotic manipulator to move from the starting pose to the goal pose, wherein at least a portion of the overall path overlaps with unseen space within the configuration space and comprises a hypothesized path determined in dependence on treating the unseen space as unoccupied;
- estimating an interest region as that volume within the unseen space that would be swept by the robotic manipulator while traversing along the hypothesized path;
- and
- incrementally sensing the interest region for object detection and corresponding responsive modification of the hypothesized path, according to a path exposure procedure that comprises:
- determining a next sensor pose for sensing a next portion of the interest region via a sensor associated with the robotic manipulator;
- responsive to detecting no obstacles in the next portion of the interest region and there being remaining interest region to sense, advancing to a next repetition of the path exposure procedure;
- and
- responsive to detecting one or more obstacles in the next portion of the interest region, updating the hypothesized path for avoidance of the detected one or more obstacles and correspondingly updating the interest region, and then advancing to a next repetition of the path exposure procedure.
A computer apparatus configured to perform path planning for movement of a robotic manipulator from a starting pose to a goal pose within a configuration space of the robotic manipulator, the computer apparatus comprising:
- interface circuitry;
- and
- processing circuitry configured to:
- plan an overall path for the robotic manipulator to move from the starting pose to the goal pose, wherein at least a portion of the overall path overlaps with unseen space within the configuration space and comprises a hypothesized path determined in dependence on treating the unseen space as unoccupied;
- estimate an interest region as that volume within the unseen space that would be swept by the robotic manipulator while traversing along the hypothesized path;
- and
- incrementally sensing the interest region for object detection and corresponding responsive modification of the hypothesized path, according to a path exposure procedure that comprises:
- determining a next sensor pose for sensing a next portion of the interest region via a sensor associated with the robotic manipulator;
- and
- responsive to detecting no obstacles in the next portion of the interest region and there being remaining interest region to sense, advancing to a next repetition of the path exposure procedure;
- or
- responsive to detecting one or more obstacles in the next portion of the interest region, updating the hypothesized path for avoidance of the detected one or more obstacles and correspondingly updating the interest region, and then advancing to a next repetition of the path exposure procedure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.