Managing the Dynamics of a Potential Field-Guided Robot in a Cluttered Environment

This paper extends the capabilities of the harmonic potential field approach to planning to cover both the kinematic and dynamic aspects of a robot’s motion. The suggested approach converts the gradient guidance field from a harmonic potential to a control signal by augmenting it with a novel type of dampening forces suggested in this paper called: nonlinear, anisotropic, dampening forces (NADFs). The combination of the two provides a signal that can both guide a robot and effectively manage its dynamics. The kinodynamic planning signal inherits, fully, the guidance capabilities of the harmonic gradient field. It can also be easily configured to efficiently suppress the inertia-induced transients in the robot’s trajectory without compromising the speed of operation. Theoretical results and simulation are provided in the paper.