Planning an Efficient and Robust Base Sequence for a Mobile Manipulator Performing Multiple Pick-and-place Tasks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel planning method for mobile manipulators that efficiently and robustly sequences base positions for multi-object pick-and-place tasks, considering collision avoidance, reachability, and positional uncertainties.

Contribution

It proposes a resolution complete approach using a precomputed reachability database to optimize base positioning and sequence planning for mobile manipulators.

Findings

The method reduces base movements compared to traditional sequences.

It demonstrates robustness against base positioning uncertainties.

Experimental results confirm efficiency and real-world feasibility.

Abstract

In this paper, we address efficiently and robustly collecting objects stored in different trays using a mobile manipulator. A resolution complete method, based on precomputed reachability database, is proposed to explore collision-free inverse kinematics (IK) solutions and then a resolution complete set of feasible base positions can be determined. This method approximates a set of representative IK solutions that are especially helpful when solving IK and checking collision are treated separately. For real world applications, we take into account the base positioning uncertainty and plan a sequence of base positions that reduce the number of necessary base movements for collecting the target objects, the base sequence is robust in that the mobile manipulator is able to complete the part-supply task even there is certain deviation from the planned base positions. Our experiments demonstrate both the efficiency compared to regular base sequence and the feasibility in real world applications.