Multi-Robot Coordinated Planning in Confined Environments under Kinematic Constraints

TL;DR

This paper introduces fast-dRRT, an extension of dRRT* for multi-robot planning in confined spaces, balancing efficiency and safety while respecting kinematic constraints.

Contribution

We develop fast-dRRT, a novel algorithm that improves multi-robot planning efficiency in tight environments with high robot coupling.

Findings

Fast-dRRT outperforms existing planners in computational speed.

The algorithm maintains safe paths respecting kinematic constraints.

Effective in environments with high robot proximity.

Abstract

We investigate the problem of multi-robot coordinated planning in environments where the robots may have to operate in close proximity to each other. We seek computationally efficient planners that ensure safe paths and adherence to kinematic constraints. We extend the central planner dRRT* with our variant, fast-dRRT (fdRRT), with the intention being to use in tight environments that lead to a high degree of coupling between robots. Our algorithm is empirically shown to achieve the trade-off between computational time and solution quality, especially in tight environments.