Path Planning Based on Dimension Reduction and Region Clipping for Aircraft Fuel Tank Inspection Robot

A continuum robot for inspecting aircraft fuel tank is designed to improve the performance of manual maintenance. Path planning for this kind of robot is challenging due to their complex kinematics models. In an environment without obstacles, a strategy of path planning is proposed in this paper. Dimension reduction method is presented and an imaginary straight line between the starting point and the target is made up as a reference line to simplify the problem. A novel search method based on region clipping deduced from continuity analysis of position function is proposed to decrease computing time complexity. Minimum distance summation (MDS) is calculated to decide the optimal path relatively. Simulation results and analysis demonstrate excellent performance of region clipping search method and feasibility of path planning.