Obstacle Avoidance of Manipulators Based on Improved Artificial Potential Field Method

Obstacle avoidance is a key problem of robot motion planning. This paper introduces an improved method to realize obstacle avoidance of manipulators based on artificial potential field method which offers a relatively fast and effective way to solve the problem. We establish the attractive potential field function of the goal and the repulsive potential filed functions of obstacles in the workspace instead of the configuration space. Then a series of control points on the manipulator are chosen to be influenced by the total potential. A policy is proposed that only the end point is attracted to the goal while all selected points are repulsed by obstacles. Afterwards, we transfer the potential force of each point in workspace into the moment in configuration space to make the manipulator move by iteration of joint angles. The effectiveness of the method is confirmed by simulation experiments.