Evaluation of a new Backtrack Free path planning Algorithm for two manipulators

This paper describes a path planning algorithm for calculates collision free path of two manipulators in a populated environment for 2 or 3-dimensional workspace. In the algorithm, two manipulators are considered as a single composite one. A newly developed path planning algorithm BFA (Backtrack Free path planning Algorithm) enables the efficient generation of paths of this composite manipulator with many arms. BFA is an exact algorithm, i.e. the algorithm is backtrack free and resolution complete. Its computation time and memory space are proportional to the total number of arms in composite manipulators. Therefore paths can be calculated within practical and predetermined time even for manipulators with many arms, and it becomes possible to plan complicated motions of multi-arm manipulators in fully automated environments. The performance of BFA is evaluated for 2-dimensional environments. An additional advantage of this approach is that paths of individual manipulators can be calculated in parallel processing.