Safe proactive plans and their execution

We present in this paper a methodology for computing the maximum velocity profile over a trajectory planned for a mobile robot. Environment and robot dynamics as well as the constraints of the robot sensors determine the profile. The planned profile is indicative of maximum speeds that can be possessed by the robot along its path without colliding with any of the mobile objects that could intercept its future trajectory. The mobile objects could be arbitrary in number and the only information available regarding them is their maximum possible velocity. The velocity profile also enables one to deform planned trajectories for better trajectory time. The methodology has been adopted for holonomic and non-holonomic motion planners. An extension of the approach to an online real-time scheme that modifies and adapts the path as well as velocities to changes in the environment such that both safety and execution time are not compromised is also presented for the holonomic case. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of this methodology.