A tale of two planners: Modular robotic planning with LDP

Abstract— LDP (Locally Distributed Predicates) is a distributed, high-level language for programming modular reconfigurable robot systems (MRRs). In this paper we present the implementation of two motion-planning algorithms in LDP, and analyze both their performance and ease of implementation. We present multiple variations of one planner, including a novel resource allocation algorithm. We then draw conclusions about both the utility of the motion-planning algorithms and the suitability of LDP to the problem space. Our experiments suggest that metamodule-based planning approaches have a cost in time and/or energy terms, but that the cost can be worth paying in exchange for the additional generality and separationof-concerns offered by these techniques. The particular tradeoff for a given system will depend upon its goals and the details of the underlying modules. I. MRRS AND MOTION PLANNING The problem of reconfiguration / shape planning for modular robotic systems (MRRs) presents...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: IROS
• Authors: Michael DeRosa, Seth Copen Goldstein, Peter Lee, Padmanabhan Pillai, Jason Campbell
• Keywords: IROS 2009, Modular Reconfigurable Robot, Motion-planning Algorithms, Robotics, State Space