Trajectory planning method for pipeline installation robots based on AS-DTRRT

Pipeline installation robots install pipelines on both sides of mine roadways using robotic arms; the geometric shape and length of the pipelines affect the movement trajectory of the robotic arms, and the working environment is complex and changeable. Aiming at the issues of the mechanical arm’s long motion trajectory, low installation efficiency, and pipeline collision vulnerability during installation, a trajectory planning method based on the improved dual-tree RRT algorithm (AS-DTRRT) is proposed. Taking the pipeline installation robot with a 6-degree-of-freedom Cartesian coordinate robotic arm as the research object, the Artificial Potential Field method is introduced to guide the growth direction of new nodes in the path of the dual-tree RRT algorithm; aiming at the problem that the Artificial Potential Field method is prone to falling into local optimality, an adaptive step-size dynamic environment bias strategy is proposed, which automatically adjusts the step size according to the environmental conditions of the position where the new node is located to further improve the path search capability. This study analyzes the influence of pipeline geometry and length on the robotic arm’s working space, proposes a pipeline collision avoidance strategy considering the working environment, and applies quintic polynomial interpolation to plan the trajectory of collision-free paths while considering joint speed and acceleration constraints. Simulations and platform experiments comparing AS-DTRRT with RRT*, D-RRT, Bi-RRT*, and A-RRT validate the method’s feasibility, demonstrating that AS-DTRRT outperforms the four algorithms by reducing actual runtime by 20.22%, 15.48%, 4.69%, and 16.47% and shortening average path lengths by 21.17%, 13.78%, 6.85%, and 9.24% respectively. The proposed method enhances search efficiency and reduces path lengths, providing an effective approach for trajectory planning of pipeline installation robots.