Path planning for redundant manipulators using iterative optimization technique

The authors present a fairly general solution to the problem of how best to use the extra degree(s) of freedom that redundant manipulators allow. One of the particular strengths of the algorithm presented here is that it can easily use a broad range of possible cost functions in the optimization. The main goal of the algorithm, however, is to make the optimization less expensive, computationally. It is hoped that this approach may lead to practical (suboptimal) solutions that can run in real time or nearly so, on the next generation of computers