Abstract
This paper formalizes the problem of moving the hand of a manipulator to the goal position and orientation avoiding the collision with obstacles in the work space and gives an algorithm to solve the formalized problem. The algorithm is given as follows: First, an efficient method of detecting the interference among links of a manipulator and obstacles is presented. Second, movable conditions of joints are shown and the problem of planning of collision free movement is formalized using these conditions. Third, an algorithm to solve the problem by the use of linear programming is given.
The obtained algorithm is applied to the planar movement of a manipulator with four links and four degrees of freedom and its effectiveness is shown.
