A practicality and safety-oriented approach for path planning in crane lifts

Safe and efficient operations of cranes in complex construction environments require thorough planning of lift paths. As the scales of construction projects expand, path planning becomes excessively sophisticated and laborious using conventional practices where lift paths are verified manually. This study proposes a novel practicality and safety-aware path planning method for single crane lifting scenarios, which defines and incorporates key practicality considerations in a sampling-based path planning algorithm. An RRT*-based algorithm is proposed and validated via a case study of real-world lift jobs. Results indicate that the proposed method significantly improved the path quality in terms of practicality considerations without compromising computational efficiency. The proposed method is promising in generating operable and realistic paths that can be practically executed by crane operators. It is expected to advance the knowledge and practice in automated crane lift planning, allowing for more informed prediction and management of on-site activities involving the use of cranes.