A Novel Version of Sampling-based Motion Planner for Manipulation with Faster Initial Solution and Convergence

This paper presents, Anytime Fast-BIT* (AFBIT*), a sampling based, asymptotically optimal manipulation motion planner which quickly finds an initial feasible path and rapidly improves the path quality toward optimality. AFBIT* is guided by modified heuristics in task space for faster first solution. A local optimization method is adopted at the end of every round to optimize the current best path and generate the next vertex and edge for the global path while a new round begins to improve the quality of the remaining path. Simulation results suggest AFBIT* is more efficient and effective on manipulation problems than BIT* and Fast-BIT*.