Coverage Path Planning Coverage is the determination of a path that a robot must follow such that the robot passes over every point in the environment. Previous work includes the development of a new classical motion planning technique termed the Boustrophedon Cellular Decomposition. In this approach, the robot's free space is broken down into simple subregions termed cells. Once each cell is covered, the entire environment is covered. Applications include snow removal, vacuum cleaning, and mine inspection.
Future work considers surface inspection, such as the hulls of ships.
In the longer term, I hope to look beyond sensor based planning and consider the general problem of integrating sensing and computing technologies. Mechatronic devices are one example of a basic implementation of integrated sensing and computing. Also, long term research falls into manufacturing automation. The roadmap theory, described above, applies to injection molding, a manufacturing automation process in which hot plastic is injected into a mold, is then cooled, and finally takes the form of the mold.