Optimization Techniques for Robot Path Planning

We present a method for robot path planning in the robot's configuration space, in the presence of fixed obstacles. Our method employs both combinatorial and gradient-based optimization techniques, but most distinguishably, it employs a Multi-sphere Scheme purposefully developed for two and three-dimensional packing problems. This is a singular feature which not only enables us to use a particularly high-grade implementation of a packing-problem solver, but can also be utilized as a model to reduce computational effort with other path-planning or obstacle avoidance methods.