Reflexive collision avoidance: a generalized approach

A generalized approach to reflexive obstacle avoidance is proposed. Reflex control is a method that guarantees collision avoidance with minimum nonessential influence on higher-level controls. The reflex controller described consists of two sub-modules: the C-space inspector and the active reflex controller. The C-space inspector inspects and approves prisms in C-space that are free from obstacles. The active reflex controller acts like a filter with respect to collision avoidance, which approves or replaces higher-level commands based on the free-space prisms returned from the C-space inspector. The reflex controller serves well as a building block in obstacle avoidance and path planning algorithms