A Novel Planning and Tracking Approach for Mobile Robotic Arm in Obstacle Environment

In this study, a novel planning and tracking approach is proposed for a mobile robotic arm to grab objects in an obstacle environment. First, we developed an improved APF-RRT* algorithm for the motion planning of a mobile robotic arm. This algorithm optimizes the selection of random tree nodes and smoothing the path. The invalid branch and the planning time are decreased by the artificial potential field, which is determined by the specific characteristics of obstacles. Second, a Fuzzy-DDPG-PID controller is established for the mobile robotic arm to track the planned path. The parameters of the PID controller are set using the new DDPG algorithm, which integrated FNN. The response speed and control accuracy of the controller are enhanced. The error and time of tracking of the mobile robotic arm are decreased. The experiment results verify that the proposed approach has good planning and tracking results, high speed and accuracy, and strong robustness. To avoid the occasionality of the experiments and fully illustrate the effectiveness and generality of the proposed approach, the experiments are repeated multiple times. The experiment results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. It outperforms existing planning and tracking approaches.