Patent attributes
Disclosed herein are a path planning apparatus and a method for a robot to plan an optimal path along which a manipulator of a robot moves to a goal point from a start point. An obstacle within a prescribed angle on a straight line connecting a start point and a goal point is recognized as a middle point in a configuration space and arbitrary points separated from the middle point by a prescribed distance are selected. Among the selected points, arbitrary points which can directly connect the start point and the goal point without passing the obstacle are selected as waypoints to map a new middle node. A path is extended via the middle node and extension of a tree in a wrong direction is minimized so that the manipulator is not struck at local minima without depending greatly on a goal score, thereby improving the performance of path planning and rapidly searching for a path.
