A general robot path planning algorithm

An approach to robot path planning is presented which can be applied to any holonomically constrained mechanical system. The resulting path is composed of an n-dimensional web of stepwise movements along free edges of hypercubes. The main computational function required for the algorithm is the calculation of free intervals for the configuration variables, starting from some initial position. The algorithm is shown to find a path if one exists, and a bound on the level of the search graph required for convergence is presented. The maximum number of computations required for convergence of the algorithm is shown to depend on the amount of free space surrounding the obstacle-free path