A 3-D potential panel method for robot motion planning

A potential panel method is proposed to solve the collision-free path planning problem for a free-flying robot operating in an obstacle filled 3-D environment. The problem is solved in three steps: (1) transform the arbitrary shaped obstacles in the 3-D workspace into simple convex polyhedrons; (2) generate an artificial potential field using the 3-D panel method in the 3-D workspace; (3) generate a streamline from the starting position towards the goal position in the artificial potential held. The computational complexity of the pertinent algorithms justify the efficiency of the approach and its applicability in real-time. Simulation results illustrate the potential of the proposed approach. The reported research is the outgrowth of the 2-D method, already published.(1)