NEPTUNE: Nonentangling Trajectory Planning for Multiple Tethered Unmanned Vehicles

Despite recent progress in trajectory planning for multiple robots and a single tethered robot, to reach their individual targets without entanglements remains challenging problem. In this article, complete approach is presented address First, multirobot tether-aware representation of homotopy proposed efficiently evaluate the feasibility safety potential path terms 1) cable length required target following path, 2) risk with cables other robots. Then applied decentralized online framework, which includes graph-based kinodynamic finder an optimization-based refinement, generate entanglement-free, collision-free, dynamically feasible trajectories. The efficiency compared against existing robot approaches. Simulations up eight UAVs show effectiveness entanglement prevention its real-time capabilities. Flight experiments using three verify practicality approach. software implementation publicly available online. 1