The algorithms of Sections 5.4 and 5.5 follow the single-query model, which means is given only once per robot and obstacle set. This means that there are no advantages to precomputation, and the sampling-based motion planning problem can be considered as a kind of search. The multiple-query model, which favors precomputation, is covered in Section 5.6.
The sampling-based planning algorithms presented in the present section are strikingly similar to the family of search algorithms summarized in Section 2.2.4. The main difference lies in step 3 below, in which applying an action, , is replaced by generating a path segment, . Another difference is that the search graph, , is undirected, with edges that represent paths, as opposed to a directed graph in which edges represent actions. It is possible to make these look similar by defining an action space for motion planning that consists of a collection of paths, but this is avoided here. In the case of motion planning with differential constraints, this will actually be required; see Chapter 14.
Most single-query, sampling-based planning algorithms follow this template:
In the present context, is a topological graph, as defined in Example 4.6. Each vertex is a configuration and each edge is a path that connects two configurations. In this chapter, it will be simply referred to as a graph when there is no chance of confusion. Some authors refer to such a graph as a roadmap; however, we reserve the term roadmap for a graph that contains enough paths to make any motion planning query easily solvable. This case is covered in Section 5.6 and throughout Chapter 6.
A large family of sampling-based algorithms can be described by varying the implementations of steps 2 and 3. Implementations of the other steps may also vary, but this is less important and will be described where appropriate. For convenience, step 2 will be called the vertex selection method (VSM) and step 3 will be called the local planning method (LPM). The role of the VSM is similar to that of the priority queue, , in Section 2.2.1. The role of the LPM is to compute a collision-free path segment that can be added to the graph. It is called local because the path segment is usually simple (e.g., the shortest path) and travels a short distance. It is not global in the sense that the LPM does not try to solve the entire planning problem; it is expected that the LPM may often fail to construct path segments.
It will be formalized shortly, but imagine for the time being that any of the search algorithms from Section 2.2 may be applied to motion planning by approximating with a high-resolution grid. The resulting problem looks like a multi-dimensional extension of Example 2.1 (the ``labyrinth'' walls are formed by ). For a high-resolution grid in a high-dimensional space, most classical discrete searching algorithms have trouble getting trapped in a local minimum. There could be an astronomical number of configurations that fall within a concavity in that must be escaped to solve the problem, as shown in Figure 5.13a. Imagine a problem in which the C-space obstacle is a giant ``bowl'' that can trap the configuration. This figure is drawn in two dimensions, but imagine that the has many dimensions, such as six for or perhaps dozens for a linkage. If the discrete planning algorithms from Section 2.2 are applied to a high-resolution grid approximation of , then they will all waste their time filling up the bowl before being able to escape to . The number of grid points in this bowl would typically be on the order of for an -dimensional C-space. Therefore, sampling-based motion planning algorithms combine sampling and searching in a way that attempts to overcome this difficulty.
As in the case of discrete search algorithms, there are several classes of algorithms based on the number of search trees.
Of course, one can play the devil's advocate and construct the example in Figure 5.13d, for which virtually all sampling-based planning algorithms are doomed. Even harder versions can be made in which a sequence of several narrow corridors must be located and traversed. We must accept the fact that some problems are hopeless to solve using sampling-based planning methods, unless there is some problem-specific structure that can be additionally exploited.
Steven M LaValle 2020-08-14