A method of path planning for tractor-trailer mobile robot based on the concept of global-width

Tractor-trailer mobile robot system is composed of a tractor and multiple trailers. Path planning for this kind of robot system is much more complex than that of single body robot because of its special structure. This paper analyzes the trajectories when the tractor-trailer robot system follows some representative kinds of paths; propose the concept of though-width and its calculation method. Based on it, an innovative method to synthesize the environment modeling and the path planning is given. This algorithm improves the computation method of expanding size and reduces the loss of the feasible path in free space.