Reactive optimal motion planning to anywhere in the presence of moving obstacles

Abstract

In this paper, a novel optimal motion planning framework that enables navigating optimally from any initial, to any final position within confined workspaces with convex, moving obstacles is presented. Our method outputs a smooth velocity vector field, which is then employed as a reference controller in order to sub-optimally avoid moving obstacles. The proposed approach leverages and extends desirable properties of reactive methods in order to provide a provably convergent and safe solution. Our algorithm is evaluated with both static and moving obstacles in synthetic environments and is compared against a variety of existing methods. The efficacy and applicability of the proposed scheme is finally validated in a high-fidelity simulation environment.