US Patent 7079943 Point-to-point path planning

A path planner and a method for determining a path for a vehicle comprises defining a starting point for the vehicle. A termination point is defined. An obstacle detector detects one or more obstacles in a work area between the starting point and the termination point. A boundary zone is defined about each corresponding obstacle. Candidate paths are identified between the starting point and the termination point. Each candidate path only intersects each boundary zone once for each corresponding obstacle. An economic cost is estimated for traversing each candidate path or a portion thereof between the starting point and the termination point. A preferential path is selected from the identified candidate paths based on the preferential path being associated with a lowest estimated economic cost.