Multi-Step Motion Planning for Free-Climbing Robots

Abstract

This paper studies non-gaited, multi-step motion planning, to enable limbed robots to free-climb vertical rock. The application of a multi-step planner to a real free-climbing robot is described. This planner processes each of the many underlying one-step motion queries using an incremental, sample-based technique. However, experimental results point toward a better approach, incorporating the ability to detect when one-step motions are infeasible (i.e., to prove disconnection). Current work on a general method for doing this, based on recent advances in computational real algebra, is also presented.