Collision-free path planning for a diamond-shaped robot using two-dimensional cellular automata

Abstract

This paper presents a new parallel algorithm for collision-free path planning of a diamond-shaped robot among arbitrarily shaped obstacles, which are represented as a discrete image, and its implementation in VLSI. The proposed algorithm is based on a retraction of free space onto the Voronoi diagram, which is constructed through the time evolution of cellular automata, after an initial phase during which the boundaries of obstacles are identified and coded with respect to their orientation. The proposed algorithm is both space and time efficient, since it does not require the modeling of objects or distance and intersection calculations. Additionally, the proposed twodimensional multistate cellular automaton architecture achieves high frequency of operation and it is particularly suited for VLSI implementation due to its inherent parallelism, structural locality, regularity, and modularity.

Modeling Robot Path Planning with CD++

“…Ten different states can be defined for each cell: empty (0), occupied by a non-moving module (1), occupied by an obstacle, or occupied by a robot moving in N/S/E/W direction (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9). The model uses a modified Moore Neighborhood.…”

“…Our path-planning model is based on [5] where CA are used to process a "top down" bitmap of a diamond-shaped area including a robot of arbitrary shape. The algorithm produces a Voronoi diagram that can be used to determine a path equidistant from obstacles in the space.…”

“…The diagram associates every point pj to their closest points pi (i ≠j), conforming covering sets [5,6]. Points equidistant to two elements in P define the border of a region.…”

Spatiotemporal MCA Approach for the Motion Coordination of Heterogeneous MRS

“…Zelinsky extended the Distance Transform to the Path Transform (Zelinsky, 1994). Tzionas et al in (Tzionas et al, 1997) described an algorithm for a diamond-shaped holonomic robot in a static environment where they let a CA build a Voronoi Diagram. In (Warren, 1990) the coordination of robots is proposed using a discretized 3D C-Space-Time (2D workspace plus Time) for robots with the same shape (only square and circle) and a quite simple kinematics (translation only).…”

Autonomously Implemented Versatile Path Planning for Mobile Robots Based on Cellular Automata and Ant Colony

“…Shu and Buxton presented a simple path planning algorithm for mobile robots in the presence of convex obstacles 15 . Tzionas et al introduced a collision-free path planning algorithm for a diamond-shaped robot based on retraction of free space onto a Voronoi diagram which is constructed through the time evolution of cellular automata 16 .…”