Sean Hyde
16-735 Robotic Motion Planning
August 30, 2007
Homework #1

Part 1: Create or use a software package to draw an obstacle, a start location, and end location, and a line between them.

I decided to use Matlab to do the graphical representation. This choice mostly stems from the fact that it is the graphics solution that is most familiar to me. I have essentially no experience in C++ and only moderate experience in Java. I figure by using matlab, I can do graphical representations relatively easily, and always fall back on Java (or even C++) for algorithms if necessary.

The program gives the user a window where they can click to define vertices of an obstacle. The last point is added with a right-click. The user then clicks for a start and an end location. The menu system will allow the user to display the results of multiple pathfinding algorithms on the same view. For now, it only has the ability to perform StupidPath, which draws a straight line from start to finish.

Source Files: HW1.m     stupid_path.m

Part 2: Develop a simple, yet complete, path planning algorithm

1. Move toward target.
2. If you get within 6" of an obstacle:
• Begin remembering positions
• Stop and turn to the right.
• Keep rotating until the obstacle is no longer in the way.
• Move forward (following the edge of the obstacle) until you can turn toward the target.
• If you encounter a previous position, REPORT FAILURE
• Turn toward the target.
3. Stop remembering positions
4. Goto step 1