Finding Efficient Robot Path for the Complete Coverage of A Known Space

Abstract

In robot planning problems, the complete coverage path planning refers to the problem of determining a path that a robot must take in order to pass over each point in an environment and avoid obstacles. Applications include demining, sweeping, cleaning, vacuuming, inspection robots. For this kind of problem, not only the complete coverage should be performed, but an efficient path is highly desired. Using traditional sweeping line strategy often requires several relocation moves, leading to poor efficiency. In this paper we describe a geometric algorithm for generating paths by using a modified sweeping line strategy that attempts to minimize extra relocation moves. Several examples are used in the paper to show the advantage of our algorithm over traditional approaches.