Assignment 7

Part 1 is due Tuesday before class. Part 2 is due Thursday at 8 pm. There’s also one more research idea at the end. Feel free to use it if you like.

Part a: Project idea first one-page draft

Write one page about a project you think you’d like to pursue for the rest of the term. Project ideas 1 through 6 are all great candidates, but you can also propose something completely different, as long as it includes some computational approach to robot motion. Variations on project ideas 1 through 6 are also very welcome.

For the one-page draft, include paragraphs addressing each of the following:

  1. What is the problem
  2. Why is it important or interesting?
  3. What has been done in related work?
  4. What is a simple, simple, simple example problem of the type you are describing?
  5. What have you done, or are you about to do, to solve the simple example?
  6. What obstacles or challenges need to be overcome to move from the simple example towards a more interesting example?

Part 2: Reading assignment

Read about basics of collision detection (item 1), the traditional GJK collision detection algorithm (item 2), and a paper that uses collisions to prove motion planning infeasibility (item 3).

For item 3, write a few paragraphs answering the questions: what is the problem, why is it important, what are strengths of the approach, and what are limitations?

  1. Chapter sections 3.1 and 5.3 of LaValle text
  2. GJK walkthrough. There is also a wikipedia article.
  3. Learning proofs of motion planning infeasibility

Research idea 6: 3D irregular packing

Consider the following problem, and read the 2D survey linked below. Read the introduction and look at the figures for the 3D packing paper linked belpw. Write a few paragraphs that set up a simplified example problem of this type, and that explore how you might approach solving that simplified example.

How can a shipping company pack irregular objects into a box most effectively? The problem has been previously studied, but I think there might be interesting variations on it. For example, what if all objects must be packed into the box from the top down, using a robot arm (directional packing)? If you had a nice solution, you could use the robot arm in our lab to demonstrate some results.

  1. 2d survey paper

  2. 3d packing