Safe motion using viability kernels

A prerequisite to safe robot motion is to avoid Inevitable Collision States (ICS). However, the characterization of the ICS set is a challenge. Several approximation methods have been proposed, most of which either are overly conservative or fail to provide proper motion safety guarantees. In order to to improve safety guarantees, we build upon Viability Theory and adapt an algorithm designed to approximate the Viability Kernel, a concept similar to ICS. Our algorithm is applied first to a challenging static environment scenario. It is then extended to handle dynamic environments. Although it is not possible in general to ensure safety forever, we manage nonetheless to achieve infinite motion safety in two special cases.