Essential Properties of Numerical Integration for Time-Optimal Path-Constrained Trajectory Planning

• Published in: IEEE robotics and automation letters Vol. 2; no. 2; pp. 888 - 895
• Main Authors: Shen, Peiyao, Zhang, Xuebo, Fang, Yongchun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.04.2017
• Subjects: Acceleration; Kinematics; Manipulation planning; motion and path planning; Nickel; numerical integration; Planning; properties with rigorous proofs; Switches; time-optimal trajectory planning; Torque; Trajectory
• ISSN: 2377-3766; 2377-3766
• DOI: 10.1109/LRA.2017.2655580

This letter summarizes some known properties and also presents several new properties of the numerical integration (NI) method for time-optimal trajectory planning along a specified path. The contribution is that rigorous mathematical proofs of these properties are presented, most of which have not been reported in existing literatures. We first give some properties regarding switch points and accelerating/decelerating curves of the NI method. Then, for the fact that when kinematic constraints are considered, the original version of NI that only considers torque constraints may results in failure of trajectory planning, we give the concrete failure conditions with rigorous mathematical proof. Accordingly, a failure detection algorithm is given in a "run-and-test" manner. Some simulation results on a unicycle vehicle are provided to verify those presented properties. Note that though those known properties are not discovered first, their mathematical proofs are given first in this letter. The detailed proofs make the theory of NI more complete and help interested readers to gain a thorough understanding of the method.