Three-Dimensional Path Planning Based on Six-Direction Search Scheme

In order to solve the problem of how to perform path planning for AUVs with multiple obstacles in a 3D underwater environment, this paper proposes a six-direction search scheme based on neural networks. In known environments with stationary obstacles, the obstacle energy is constructed based on a neural network and the path energy is introduced to avoid a too-long path being generated. Based on the weighted total energy of obstacle energy and path energy, a six-direction search scheme is designed here for path planning. To improve the efficiency of the six-direction search algorithm, two optimization methods are employed to reduce the number of iterations and total path search time. The first method involves adjusting the search step length dynamically, which helps to decrease the number of iterations needed for path planning. The second method involves reducing the number of path nodes, which can not only decrease the search time but also avoid premature convergence. By implementing these optimization methods, the performance of the six-direction search algorithm is enhanced in favor of path planning with multiple underwater obstacles reasonably. The simulation results validate the effectiveness and efficiency of the six-direction search scheme.

Dynamic Optimization and Heuristics Based Online Coverage Path Planning in 3D Environment for UAVs

Path planning is one of the most important issues in the robotics field, being applied in many domains ranging from aerospace technology and military tasks to manufacturing and agriculture. Path planning is a branch of autonomous navigation. In autonomous navigation, dynamic decisions about the path have to be taken while the robot moves towards its goal. Among the navigation area, an important class of problems is Coverage Path Planning (CPP). The CPP technique is associated with determining a collision-free path that passes through all viewpoints in a specific area. This paper presents a method to perform CPP in 3D environment for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) applications, namely 3D dynamic for CPP applications (3DD-CPP). The proposed method can be deployed in an unknown environment through a combination of linear optimization and heuristics. A model to estimate cost matrices accounting for UAV power usage is proposed and evaluated for a few different flight speeds. As linear optimization methods can be computationally demanding to be used on-board a UAV, this work also proposes a distributed execution of the algorithm through fog-edge computing. Results showed that 3DD-CPP had a good performance in both local execution and fog-edge for different simulated scenarios. The proposed heuristic is capable of re-optimization, enabling execution in environments with local knowledge of the environments.

Semi-autonomous Robotic Anastomoses of Vaginal Cuffs Using Marker Enhanced 3D Imaging and Path Planning

Autonomous robotic anastomosis has the potential to improve surgical outcomes by performing more consistent suture spacing and bite size compared to manual anastomosis. However, due to soft tissue's irregular shape and unpredictable deformation, performing autonomous robotic anastomosis without continuous tissue detection and three-dimensional path planning strategies remains a challenging task. In this paper, we present a novel three-dimensional path planning algorithm for Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR) to enable semi-autonomous robotic anastomosis on deformable tissue. The algorithm incorporates (i) continuous detection of 3D near infrared (NIR) markers manually placed on deformable tissue before the procedure, (ii) generating a uniform and consistent suture placement plan using 3D path planning methods based on the locations of the NIR markers, and (iii) updating the remaining suture plan after each completed stitch using a non-rigid registration technique to account for tissue deformation during anastomosis. We evaluate the path planning algorithm for accuracy and consistency by comparing the anastomosis of synthetic vaginal cuff tissue completed by STAR and a surgeon. Our test results indicate that STAR using the proposed method achieves 2.6 times better consistency in suture spacing and 2.4 times better consistency in suture bite sizes than the manual anastomosis.