An Obstacle Avoidance Trajectory Planning Algorithm for Robotic Arm Based on Two-Stage Grid Method

Abstract

This work presents an obstacle avoidance path search algorithm based on a two-stage grid method, which is illustrated with a five-degree-of-freedom (5-dof) robot arm, with the first three joints grouped for obstacle space detection and the remaining two joints for extending obstacle space. Under the working space of the robotic arm, the corresponding discrete point sets of obstacle avoidance paths are obtained based on arbitrary feasible start and end positions. The discrete points free of obstacle collision are fitted with a non-uniform quintic B-spline curve, and the node interval of the B-spline curve is optimized with the NSGA-II algorithm to obtain a better trajectory in terms of impact and energy consumption. The obstacle avoidance and trajectory planning algorithm is illustrated with the 5-dof robotic arm, and the results show that the presented obstacle avoidance trajectory planning algorithm can effectively achieve obstacle avoidance and trajectory performance optimization.

Keywords: Collision Detection; Joint Space; Grid Method; Trajectory Optimization

Citation

Guanglei Wu, Shuai Zhao. An Obstacle Avoidance Trajectory Planning Algorithm for Robotic Arm Based on Two-Stage Grid Method. WebLog J Robot Appl. wjra.2026.f1202. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20963146