Path planning among moving obstacles using spatial indexing

A method is presented for planning a pa th in t h e presence of moving obstacles. Given a se t of polygonal moving obstacles, we focus on generating a pa th for a mobile robot t h a t navigates in t h e two-dimensional plane. O u r methodology is t o include t ime as one of t h e dimensions of t h e model world. T h i s allows u s t o regard the moving obstacles as being s ta t ionary in t h e extended world. For a solution to he feasible, the robot must no t collide with any o ther moving obstacles, and , also, i t mus t navigate without exceeding t h e predetermined range of velocity, acceleration, and centrifugal force. W e use a spatial index to facilitate geometric search for t h e pa th planning task. Computer simulation results are also presented to illustrate t h e feasibility of this approach.