Class #6: Probabilistic Roadmaps (1/3) –
Basic Techniques
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The figure on the left illustrates the concept of a probabilistic roadmap. The figure in the middle shows the milestones of a roadmap created for a virtual camera in a home (see Class 15). The figure on the right shows a probabilistic roadmap tree for docking a spacecraft against a space station (from Jeff Phillips).

• Topics
  - Principle, rationale, and requirements of probabilistic roadmaps
  - Multi- and Single-query PRM planners
  - Narrow passage issue and expansiveness of free space
  - Probabilistic completeness and convergence of PRM planners
• Required Readings:
• Basic paper on probabilistic roadmaps:
  L.E. Kavraki, P. Svestka, J.C. Latombe, and M. Overmars. Probabilistic Roadmaps for Path Planning in High-Dimensional Configuration Spaces. IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, 12(4):566-580, 1996 [ps] [pdf]
• Analysis of probabilistic completeness in expansive space:
  D. Hsu, J.C. Latombe, and R. Motwani. Path Planning in Expansive Configuration Spaces. Int. J. of Computational Geometry and Applications, 9(4-5):495-512, 1999. [ps]
  
  
• Other Readings:
• A number of papers on probabilistic roadmaps can be found at the websites of:
  - Lydia Kavraki
  - Nancy Amato
  - Mark Overmars
  - David Hsu
  - Steve LaValle
  - MOLOG project
  
  
• Powerpoint slides:

o Introduction

o Paper 1

o Paper 2