Aimée Vargas, Jyh-Ming Lien, Marco Morales and Nancy M. Amato Algorithms & Applications Group Parasol Lab, Dept. of Computer Science, Texas A&M University VIZMO++ A Visualization, Authoring, and Educational Tool for Motion Planning

Motion Planning consists of finding feasible motions for movable objects Many applications: robotics, computer graphics, scientific computing, … Input −Data describing the robot’s shape, articulations, constraints −Data describing the shape and configuration of obstacles −The robot’s start and goal configurations Planning Algorithm (e.g., sampling-based motion planning) −Samples configurations randomly in the Configuration Space (C-Space) −Connects each sample to one or multiple near-by samples Output −A graph describing the feasible motions −A sequence of configurations that take the robot from the start to the goal Algorithmic Motion Planning workspace

Algorithmic Motion Planning: Input 4 MultiBody Active 1 FreeBody 0 small_robot.g Connection 0 MultiBody Pasive 1 FixedBody 0 tunnel.g Connection 0 MultiBody Pasive 1 FixedBody 0 block.g Connection 0 MultiBody Pasive 1 FixedBody 0 block.g Connection … Workspace file robot obstacle Geometry files

Algorithmic Motion Planning: Output Roadmap Version Number #####PREAMBLESTART#####../obprm -cd RAPID -f serial -bbox [0.0,4.0,0.0,4.0,-5.0,14.0] -bbox_scale 1 -lp straightline rotate_at_s -gNodes OBPRM nodes 400 collPair rT rT shells 1 freePair rT rT -cNodes closest 20 components 5 5 #####PREAMBLESTOP##### #####ENVFILESTART##### serial.env #####ENVFILESTOP##### #####LPSTART##### straightline rotate_at_s 0.5 a_star_distance 6 9 #####LPSTOP##### #####CDSTART##### 3 vclip RAPID PQP #####CDSTOP##### #####DMSTART##### 5 scaledEuclidean 0.9 euclidean minkowski manhattan com #####DMSTOP##### #####GRAPHSTART##### #####GRAPHSTOP##### VIZMO_PATH_FILE Path Version … Path file Roadmap (graph) file

Motivation l Meaningful visualizations and interfaces to –Illustrate l Problems l Solutions –Help in the development and testing of motion planners –Create and modify problem instances –Try queries l Teaching aid –Illustrate how planners model motions in complex problems –Illustrate the many abstractions involved in motion planning –Allow to deal with interesting environments that otherwise may be impossible to access –Illustrate differences and similarities between motion planners –Interactive learning – Degrees of Freedom – Configuration – Configuration Space – N-dimensional Space – Graph, Tree – Connected Component – Medial Axis – Distance Metrics – …

VIZMO++ The major components include: l A user friendly interface –C++, OpenGL and Qt 4 l Visualization of the workspace/scene l Visualization of results generated by motion planners l Editor for the workspace/scene l Editor for roadmaps

VIZMO++ The major components include: l A user friendly interface l Visualization of the workspace/scene –Wired/solid modes –Change colors l Visualization of results generated by motion planners l Editor for the workspace/scene l Editor for roadmaps

VIZMO++ The major components include: l A user friendly interface l Visualization of the workspace/scene l Visualization of results generated by motion planners –path sweep volume –path animation l Editor for the workspace/scene l Editor for roadmaps

VIZMO++ The major components include: l A user friendly interface l Visualization of the workspace/scene l Visualization of results generated by motion planners –debugging –compare different methods l Editor for the workspace/scene l Editor for roadmaps

VIZMO++ The major components include: l A user friendly interface l Visualization of the workspace/scene l Visualization of results generated by motion planners l Editor for the workspace/scene –select/translate/rotate/scale –inset/delete objects –check for collision l Editor for roadmaps

VIZMO++ The major components include: l A user friendly interface l Visualization of the workspace/scene l Visualization of results generated by motion planners l Editor for the workspace/scene l Editor for roadmaps –modify –add –delete

Demo

Conclusion l VIZMO++ is a 3D tool for visualizing and editing motion planning –Environments and Problem Instances –Solutions l Future work includes –allow users to construct articulated robots –support multiple robots –support Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) –Configuration-space visualization (2D-3D projections) –release the code

Aimée Vargas, Jyh-Ming Lien, Marco Morales and Nancy M. Amato Algorithms & Applications Group Parasol Lab, Dept. of Computer Science, Texas A&M University VIZMO++