A Global Motion Planner for Curve-Tracing Robots

We present a global motion planner for tracing curves in three dimensions with robot manipulator tool frames. This planner generates an efficient motion satisfying three types of constraints: constraints on the tool tip for curve tracing, robot kinematic constraints and robotlink collision constraints. Motions are planned using a global search algorithm and a local planner based on a potential-field approach. This planner can be used with any robots including redundant manipulators, and can control the trade-offs between its algorithmic completeness and computation time. It can be applied in many robotic tasks such as seam welding, caulking, edge deburring and chamfering, and is expected to reduce motion programming times from days to minutes.