Motion Planning and Collision Avoidance with Complex Geometry

CAD and robot simulation tools are often used to verify a workcell or process at the design phase: a geometric model of the machinery involved is produced, and pictures of the model examined for potential problems. However more advanced techniques for collision detection and path planning are only slowly filtering out of the research laboratories. We introduce a path planning shell called OxSim that is based on the separation of geometry and planning. We claim that OxSim makes it much easier to prototype collision detection and path planning schemes involving large and complex geometries, and outline how that system has been used up to now, and our plans for further research. Keywords Robot simulation, path planning, collision detection, distance computation. 1 Introduction The ability to perform fast path planning is a useful skill for a robot working in a hazardous environment. However, although path planning has been a research field for many years the use of the techniques of ..