Fast smoothing of manipulator trajectories using optimal bounded-acceleration shortcuts

• DOI: 10.1109/robot.2010.5509683
• Publication Date: 2010-07-22T16:07:20Z
• Authors: Kris Hauser; Victor Ng-Thow-Hing
• Keywords: 0209 industrial biotechnology; 02 engineering and technology

This paper considers a shortcutting heuristic to smooth jerky trajectories for many-DOF robot manipulators subject to collision constraints, velocity bounds, and acceleration bounds. The heuristic repeatedly picks two points on the trajectory and attempts to replace the intermediate trajectory with a shorter, collision-free segment. Here, we construct segments that interpolate between endpoints with specified velocity in a time-optimal fashion, while respecting velocity and acceleration bounds. These trajectory segments consist of parabolic and straight-line curves, and can be computed in closed form. Experiments on reaching tasks in cluttered human environments demonstrate that the technique can generate smooth, collision-free, and natural-looking motion in seconds for a PUMA manipulator and the Honda ASIMO robot.