Integration of a Graph-Based Path Planner and Mixed-Integer MPC for Robot Navigation in Cluttered Environments

Abstract: The ability to update a path plan is a required capability for autonomous mobile robots navigating through uncertain environments. This paper proposes a re-planning strategy using a multilayer planning and control framework for cases where the robot's environment is partially known. A medial axis graph-based planner defines a global path plan based on known obstacles where each edge in the graph corresponds to a unique corridor. A mixed-integer model predictive control (MPC) method detects if a terminal constraint derived from the global plan is infeasible, subject to a non-convex description of the local environment. Infeasibility detection is used to trigger efficient global re-planning via medial axis graph edge deletion. The proposed re-planning strategy is demonstrated experimentally.