Path planning under uncertainty from a decision analytic perspective

Previous work has used a certainty grid for navigation and path planning. In the present work, the author attempts to formulate the path planning problem under uncertainty from a decision analytic perspective. Paths are generated based on the planner´s preferences and expected utilities of actions. A proposed cost structure, controlled by a strategy index, can simulate attitudes ranging from risk aversion to risk seeking. Experimental results demonstrate how path length and path risk are traded off based on this index. The proposed framework for navigation under uncertainty has proven to be a powerful tool in encoding subjective preferences in path planning. With a solid theoretical foundation such as decision analysis and utility and game theory, uncertain spatial and other knowledge terms can be assimilated in the overall plan. The preliminary results so far have shown a promising outlook for further expansion of this technique to real-world problems