Paper No. ISOPE-2008-FSH-02 Greytak 8 pages Robust Motion Planning for Marine Vehicle Navigation

In this paper we consider the control of a small autonomous underactuated surface vessel such as a harbor patrol craft. The maneuvering problem can be solved using the Maneuver Automaton motion planning framework to navigate around obstacles to a destination. This technique is useful for docking maneuvers and other complex tasks. We demonstrate how the inclusion of waypoints adds global position feedback to the motion plans, making them more robust to disturbances. An analysis of the position variance evolution throughout the plan shows that using waypoints limits the position uncertainty and consequently the risk of collision with obstacles. We present simulations and experimental results for a surface vessel. The plans are optimal with respect to a metric that includes both plan duration and collision probability. KEY WORDS: motion planning; maneuvering; navigation; waypoint tracking; collision avoidance; autonomous vehicles