Near time-optimal and sensor-based motion planning for robotic manipulators

The increasing demand of flexible robotic solutions in SMEs motivates this research that aims at proposing a unified framework for robot motion planning and control, with handling of sensor events. The proposed motion planning algorithm divides the time horizon in two parts. Instantaneous constraints as well as motion feasibility are considered within the first (control horizon), whilst the second one accounts for the feasibility of the overall trajectory in minimum-time (planning horizon). A simulated case study demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach, as applied to an image-guided grasping task.