My Project
Motion Planning is the problem of finding a valid path from a start to end configuration. As Motion Planning is an endlessly expanding field of study, better methods of visualization are needed for individuals with little to no experience in Motion Planning. This may sound easy than what it actually is. Motion Planning is a broad problem which requires research in order to properly implement multiple strategies with advantages and disadvantages. A evident problem with motion planning is when a robot's degrees of freedom increase, the problem becomes more difficult. Therefore, the Parasol Motion Planning Library (PMPL) was developed.
Project Goals and Implications
The goal of this project is to develop a Test Suite designed to evaluate Motion Planning algorithms. By the end of the summer we want to provide a set of comprehensive problems that show the capabilities that PMPL has by running several scenarios in a simulator. Additionally, my team and I are also focusing on allowing different PMPL strategies to be used with different variables; gravity, friction, collision, etc, that could otherwise affect the planning process which Vizmo, the current GUI to view the final path after planning, would not take into consideration.
With the help of Irving and others in the lab, we strive to be able to perfect the simulators functionality and performance.
Approach
Learn the Parasol Lab's software tools for research including PMPL (for motion planning), Vizmo (for visualization), the simulator, and GForge (for group code collaboration).
Learn basics of motion planning, mesh files, and visualization.
Conduct testing and visual analysis of changes made.
Document improvements and optimizations
Prepare and present a poster
Project Final Products
Final Report
Final Poster
