Trajectory-Safe Orienteering for Human-Robot Shared Environments

Abstract

Orienteering problem (OP) has wide real-world applications and also great potential in human-robot collaboration. However, existing approaches struggle to simultaneously ensure safe and feasible trajectories while achieving high-quality task execution in shared workspaces. To this end, this work studies the OP with time windows and variable profits (OPTWVP). A two-stage DEcoupled discrete-Continuous Optimization with Service-time-guided Trajectory (DeCoST) approach is proposed to effectively solve OPTWVP in shared spaces. Meanwhile, the safety-aware time windows of nodes and the discretized workspace are introduced to ensure collision-free trajectories between the end effector and the human. Preliminary results validate the effectiveness of DeCoST in generating collision-free trajectory plans while preserving the quality of orienteering tasks.