Obstacle Avoidance of Manipulators Based on Improved Artificial Potential Field Method Obstacle avoidance is a key problem of robot motion planning. This paper introduces an improved method to realize obstacle avoidance of manipulators based on artificial potential field method which offers a relatively fast and effective way to solve the problem. We establish the attractive potential field function of the goal and the repulsive potential filed functions of obstacles in the workspace instead of the configuration space. Then a series of control points on the manipulator are chosen to be influenced by the total potential. A policy is proposed that only the end point is attracted to the goal while all selected points are repulsed by obstacles. Afterwards, we transfer the potential force of each point in workspace into the moment in configuration space to make the manipulator move by iteration of joint angles. The effectiveness of the method is confirmed by simulation experiments.

Dynamic Obstacle Avoidance Planning for Manipulators of Home With the maturity of robotics and serious aging situation, home service robots have been prevailing around the world, which requires the robotic arm of home service robots to be flexible for obstacle avoidance to work in complex and changing home environment. Based on the actual requirements of home service robots, this paper proposes an obstacle avoidance planning algorithm based on improved artificial potential field method for dynamic obstacle avoidance of redundant manipulators. The velocity of the target object and obstacle were introduced into the endplanned field structure to plan a collisionfree path for the end of the arm and track the dynamic target point. Meanwhile, the deviation speed of the arm member in the obstacle repulsive field was added to ensure obstacle avoidance. Finally, the effectiveness of the algorithm was verified in the simulation environment.