Abstract

Abstract This paper presents a comparative evaluation of different dis-tance metrics and local planners within the context of probabilistic roadmap methods for motion planning. Both C-space andWorkspace distance metrics and local planners are considered. The study concentrates on cluttered three-dimensionalWorkspaces typical, e.g., of mechanical designs. Our results include recommendations for selecting appropriate combinationsof distance metrics and local planners for use in motion planning methods, particularly probabilistic roadmap methods. Wefind that each local planner makes some connections than none of the others do-- indicating that better connectedroadmaps will beconstructed using multiple local planners. We propose a new local planning method we call rotate-at-s that outperforms the commonstraight-line in C-space method in crowded environments. 1

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