Title: Motion planning of a mobile manipulator based on an optimised docking position and an improved A* algorithm

Authors: Yi Cao; Yao Zhao; Mingqi Tang; Yinhui Guo; Xiang Wu

Addresses: School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Henan University of Technology, No. 100 Lianhua Street, Zhengzhou City, 50000, Henan Province, China ' School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Henan University of Technology, No. 100 Lianhua Street, Zhengzhou City, 50000, Henan Province, China ' School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Henan University of Technology, No. 100 Lianhua Street, Zhengzhou City, 50000, Henan Province, China ' School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Henan University of Technology, No. 100 Lianhua Street, Zhengzhou City, 50000, Henan Province, China ' School of Electrical Engineering, Henan University of Technology, No. 100 Lianhua Street, Zhengzhou, 450000, China

Abstract: In response to the significant impact that the docking position of a mobile platform has on the operability of the manipulator arm subsystem and overall energy consumption, the docking position of a mobile manipulator was optimised and the path planning algorithm was improved during this study. First, a novel method of optimising the docking position was developed. This method is based on the operability of the manipulator arm, calculated using the Jacobian matrix, along with a specially developed energy consumption evaluation method designed for mobile manipulator systems. Second, to optimise the path of the mobile manipulator, the A* algorithm was enhanced through the design of a new heuristic search function and the integration of the Floyd algorithm, which increased the smoothness of the generated paths. Finally, the proposed method was validated through comprehensive motion-planning experiments conducted in an indoor environment. These experiments utilised a mobile manipulator system that was composed of a six-degree-of-freedom manipulator arm and a Turtlebot2 mobile robot. This research was designed to simultaneously optimise the docking position and motion path of the mobile manipulator while considering both the operability and energy consumption of the manipulator arm.

Keywords: mobile manipulator docking position; energy-consumption model; manipulator operability; improved A* algorithm.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMTM.2025.151216

International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management, 2025 Vol.39 No.6, pp.506 - 525

Received: 10 Jul 2024
Accepted: 17 Mar 2025
Published online: 19 Jan 2026 *

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