paper: Driving a Robot — Fastest Path from A to B

[Jared Russell]

Originally Posted by Jared

One quick question- how does the code (or does it even do it?) limit acceleration, jerk, and velocity if the path goes straight long enough for the robot to reach full speed, then suddenly turn sharply? Do you go through the turn too quickly, ignore acceleration limits and stop too quickly, or do you somehow begin decelerating before you get there?

In 2014, by having conservative limits on these quantities and not having lots of sharp turns. (Inelegant but good enough.)

For 2015 and beyond, by assigning maximum velocities to each point on the path based on curvature and working backwards to respect the other limits. This is the "correct" way to do it, and fairly straightforward for the limited acceleration/unlimited jerk case. But it can be very complicated for limited jerk control.