Real-time 3-D path generation method for a robot arm by a 2-D dipole field

This paper proposes a simple algorithm for generating a 3-D path of an end effector of a robot arm in real-time. We assume that the global position and orientation of the robot´s end effector, a waypoint and a destination are known. Our algorithm computes a 2-D dipole field on the local plane through the end effector, the waypoint and the destination. The robot´s end effector moves along the 2-D dipole field. Through experiments in computer simulation and real environment, we confirm the validity of our method.