Continuous curvature constrained shortest path for a car-like robot using S-Roadmaps

This paper proposes a new approach for motion planning for a car-like robot which is based on a surfaced roadmap concept. A major advantage of our approach is that, it enables the same roadmap to be efficiently utilized for car-like robots with different kinematical constraints or with different starting and ending points. Our approach first represents the 2D environment using the B-Surface concept. Then, build a roadmap onto the B-Surface which does not incorporate any kinematical constraints. The paths encoded in the roadmap consist of poly-geodesic segments. The roadmap assists in the optimization and smoothing of these paths using NURBS curves. We also demonstrate experimental results for a simple model of a car-like robot moving on 2D environments.