SMART: Self-Morphing Adaptive Replanning Tree

The letter presents an algorithm, called Self-Morphing Adaptive Replanning Tree (SMART), that facilitates fast replanning in dynamic environments. SMART performs risk-based tree-pruning if the current path is obstructed by nearby moving obstacle(s), resulting in multiple disjoint subtrees. Then, for speedy recovery, it exploits these subtrees and performs informed tree-repair at hot-spots that lie at the intersection of subtrees to find a new path. The performance of SMART is comparatively evaluated with eight existing algorithms through extensive simulations. Two scenarios are considered with: 1) dynamic obstacles and 2) both static and dynamic obstacles. The results show that SMART yields significant improvements in replanning time, success rate, and travel time. Finally, the performance of SMART is validated by a real laboratory experiment.