Optimal robot motion planning and work-cell layout design

This paper describes an interactive software system, developed at the Robotics and Automation Laboratory at UCLA to demonstrate innovative approaches to off-line robot programming and work-cell layout design. The software computes the time-optimal motions along specified paths, local optimal paths around an initial guess, and the global optimal path between given end-points. It considers the full robot dynamics, actuator constraints, on the payload acceleration or the gripping force, and any number of polygonal obstacles of any shape. The graphic displays provide a useful tool for interactive motion planning and workcell design.