Path planning with obstacle avoidance based on visibility binary tree algorithm

•A new algorithm for robot navigation, referred to as visibility binary tree algorithm is introduced.•The construction of this algorithm is based on the visible tangents between robot and obstacles.•The shortest path is run on top of the visibility binary tree.•The performance is compared with three different algorithms for path planning.

In this paper, a novel method for robot navigation in dynamic environments, referred to as visibility binary tree algorithm, is introduced. To plan the path of the robot, the algorithm relies on the construction of the set of all complete paths between robot and target taking into account inner and outer visible tangents between robot and circular obstacles. The paths are then used to create a visibility binary tree on top of which an algorithm for shortest path is run. The proposed algorithm is implemented on two simulation scenarios, one of them involving global knowledge of the environment, and the other based on local knowledge of the environment. The performance are compared with three different algorithms for path planning.