On-line planning for collision avoidance on the nominal path (Q1383987)

The subject of this paper is the problem of collision avoidance by a mobile robot able to move in the plane. In order to account for physical dimensions of the robot and of the obstacles, all these objects have been approximated by two-dimensional discs. The dynamics of motion of the robot are simplified to the dynamics of a material point moving along a prescribed rectilinear path and subject to a piecewise constant acceleration. Also, the obstacles are assumed to move uniformly along straight lines. The problem considered in the paper is the following: given a nominal path and a nominal velocity of the robot, and knowing positions and velocities of the obstacles, design the robot's motion along this path in such a way that the robot avoids collisions with the obstacles, while its velocity deviation from the nominal one is minimized, respecting at the same time a given upper bound on the robot's velocity. Mathematically, this problem has been formulated as a discrete linear quadratic optimal control problem with additional quadratic constraints reflecting the collision avoidance requirement. Explicit solutions to this problem are presented and two basic motion strategies are proposed to be implemented at the moment when a possibility of collision is detected: an acceleration strategy and a deceleration strategy. Some simulations are provided to illustrate these collision avoidance strategies.