From Low to High Order Motion Planners: Safe Robot Navigation Using Motion Prediction and Reference Governor

Safe navigation around obstacles is a fundamental challenge for highly dynamic robots. The state-of-the-art approach for adapting simple reference path planners to complex robot dynamics using trajectory optimization and tracking control is brittle and requires significant replanning cycles. In this letter, we introduce a novel feedback motion planning framework that extends the applicability of low-order (e.g. position-/velocity-controlled) reference motion planners to high-order (e.g., acceleration-/jerk-controlled) robot models using motion prediction and reference governors. We use predicted robot motion range for safety assessment and establish a continuous bidirectional interface between high-level planning and low-level control via a reference governor. We describe the generic fundamental building blocks of our feedback motion planning framework and give specific example designs for motion control, prediction, and reference planning. We prove the correctness of our planning framework and demonstrate its performance in numerical simulations. We conclude that accurate motion prediction is crucial for closing the gap between high-level planning and low-level control.