Real-Time Configuration Space Transforms for Obstacle Avoidance

A method is presented for computation of obstacle boundaries in configuration space, with particular emphasis on time efficiency. Properties of configuration space transformations are presented in general, and these properties are invoked in algorithms that result in highly efficient computations. The approach depends on the definition of a set of primitives, which are themselves efficiently transformed and may be combined logically to construct more complex transformations. The concepts are illustrated with both computed and empirically obtained configuration space obstacles in two and three dimensions. Performance data for real-time transformations are reported.