Project 7: Approximate motion planning with translation and rotation

  • Assigned:
  • Due: Wednesday December 18th
  • Group policy: Partner-optional
  • Collaboration policy: Level 1

Overview

In this project you will implement approximate motion planning for a polygonal robot moving among polygonal obstacles in 2d with translation and rotation (3dof) using one of the following approaches: A*, RRT or PRM .

Interface

When the program starts the user will enter the polygons using the mouse (in a manner similar to previous projects), then once the scene is done, the user will enter the robot. Then the user will click on the start and end position of the robot.

Whichever planner you chose to implement, use it to find a path from start to end. Then draw the path and animate the robot traveling along the path.

Deliverables/What to turn in

You will receive the assignment on GitHub; it contains no code. Your github repository shoud contain:

  • your code

  • The README file is the landing page for the repository and should contain: (1) a one-sentence description of what the code is doing. and (2) instrutions on how to run it. Totally fine to keep it minimal, but anyone shoud be able to run your code after looking at your README. It’s also good practice to include there the bugs or limitations of the project, so that users are aware.

  • A brief report showcasing your project, containing: * (1) which planner you implemented and the basic choices you made * (2) images of scenes and paths. There isn’t a required number of images, include what you consider a representative sample.
    • (3) if your code does not work in all cases, explain.
    • (4) Time you spent in: Thinking; Programming; Testing; Documenting; Total.
    • (5) Brief reflection prompts (you don’t need to address all): how challenging did you find this project? what are some things you learnt by doing this project? Is there anything you wish you did differently? If you worked with a partner, how did that go? Is there anything you would like like to explore further?
  • Capture a movie of the screen while you demo your code and upload it to github as demo.mov. To demo, no voice, just run your code and show what it can do (To capture a movie on a Mac press shift+command+5 and then choose the option that says record selected portion).

From the beginning, design your code knowing that you will spend 90% of the time debugging it. If you approach your algorithm with a theoretical mindset and think before you start coding, you will be a lot more effective.

Enjoy!

Examples from previous semesters