Path Planning of drones using ROS

This is the first project I have done using the Robot Operating System for Autonomous Navigation of drones for e-yantra Robotics Competition organized by IIT Bombay. I am really excited to share my journey so far with ROS and Open Source Robotics.

Path Planning

The path planning is somewhat trivial but motion planning, on the other hand, is not that easy. Path planning is a process you use to construct a path from a starting point to an endpoint given a full, partial or dynamic map. Motion planning is the process by which you define the set of actions you need to execute to follow the path you planned.

Testing a robot code can be time-consuming and error-prone and sometimes physical robots might not be present. ROS provides a solution to this problem as it separates the hardware part and decision making i.e coding part.

One of the main challenges for intelligent UAV development is path planning in adverse environments. The objective is to complete the given mission to arrive at the given target within prescribed time while maximizing the safety of the UAVs.

Various methods used for path planning are Graph theory, Probability map, Conversion to the shortest path problem and shortest path algorithms.

Autonomy skyrocketing is going to be the future innovation. ROS platform plays a major role in the planning of E-drones and encapsulating the same with the real one. This concept can be used in the field of agriculture, for spraying drones in a particular mapped area. It also can be used as patrolling UAV and can plan the path to reach the desired location.

This is my first step, Stay Tuned for my Stride.