Robot Motion Planning

Ask about this topic

Overview

Robot motion planning determines how a robot can move from a start state to a goal while respecting obstacles, its own geometry and dynamics, and task requirements. Classical approaches include graph search, sampling-based planners such as PRM and RRT, potential fields, and trajectory optimization or model predictive control; newer methods use learned policies and generative models to propose or refine motions. Planning is also combined with perception, feedback control, temporal-logic specifications, and task-level reasoning for settings such as manipulation, navigation, and multi-robot coordination. A central challenge is balancing speed and generalization in uncertain, dynamic environments with reliable execution and safety guarantees, especially when learned plans must transfer from simulation to physical robots.

Latest papers

CardsList

271 papers34 papers in the last four weeks, down 13% on the four weeks before. 0.2% of all new papers.

  1. OA-NBV: Occlusion-Aware Next-Best-View Planning for Human-Centered Active Perception on Mobile Robots

    Mar 10, 2026Boxun Hu, Chang Chang, Jiawei Ge +4Active PerceptionNext-Best-View Planning

    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA · Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA · Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA +1

  2. Two-Stage Path Following for Mobile Manipulators via Dimensionality-Reduced Graph Search and Numerical Optimization

    Mar 7, 2026Fuyu Guo, Yuting Mei, Yuyao Zhang +1Robot Motion PlanningConstrained Motion Planning

    College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, ChongQing University, Chongqing, P.R.C.

  3. LIPP: Load-Aware Informative Path Planning with Physical Sampling

    Mar 6, 2026Hojune Kim, Guangyao Shi, Gaurav S. SukhatmeInformative Path PlanningConstrained Optimization

    School of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Southern California Los Angeles, California · School of Computer Science University of Southern California Los Angeles, California

  4. Environment-Aware Path Generation for Robotic Additive Manufacturing of Structures

    Mar 5, 2026Mahsa Rabiei, Reza MoiniRobotic ConstructionAdditive Manufacturing

    Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA

  5. CT-Enabled Patient-Specific Simulation and Contact-Aware Robotic Planning for Cochlear Implantation

    Mar 5, 2026Lingxiao Xun, Gang Zheng, Alexandre Kruszewski +1Contact-Aware Motion PlanningCosserat Rod Modeling

  6. Direct Contact-Tolerant Motion Planning With Vision Language Models

    Mar 5, 2026He Li, Jian Sun, Chengyang Li +4Contact-Aware Motion PlanningRobot Navigation

    State Key Laboratory of Internet of Things for Smart City (SKL-IOTSC), University of Macau, Macau, China. · Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. · Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.

  7. Many-RRT*: Robust Joint-Space Trajectory Planning for Serial Manipulators

    Mar 4, 2026Theodore M. Belmont, Benjamin A. Christie, Anton NetchaevRobot Motion PlanningSampling-Based Motion Planning

    USACE ERDC, Information Technology Lab (ERDC), Vicksburg, MS 39180, USA · Collaborative Robotics Lab (Collab), Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061

  8. OmniPlanner: Universal Exploration and Inspection Path Planning Across Robot Morphologies

    Mar 4, 2026Angelos Zacharia, Mihir Dharmadhikari, Mohit Singh +1Robotic InspectionRobot Task Planning

    Department of Engineering Cybernetics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 7034 Trondheim, Norway

  9. Sampling-Based Motion Planning with Scene Graphs Under Perception Constraints

    Mar 3, 2026Qingxi Meng, Emiliano Flores, Thai Duong +2Scene GraphsMotion Planning

    Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005 USA · the Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005 USA, and also with Ken Kennedy Institute, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005 USA.

  10. GAIDE: Graph-based Attention Masking for Spatial- and Embodiment-aware Motion Planning

    Mar 3, 2026Davood Soleymanzadeh, Xiao Liang, Minghui ZhengRobot Motion PlanningSampling-Based Motion Planning

    J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA · Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843 USA

  11. Self-Evolutionary Replanning for Failure-Aware Motion Planning

    Mar 3, 2026Guoliang Li, Ruihua Han, Chengyang Li +5Motion PlanningRobot Motion Planning

    Department of Computer and Information Science, University of Macau · Department of Computer Science, University of Hong Kong · SIAT, Chinese Academy of Sciences +2

  12. MMH-Planner: Multi-Mode Hybrid Trajectory Planning Method for UAV Efficient Flight Based on Real-Time Spatial Awareness

    Mar 3, 2026Yinghao Zhao, Chenguang Dai, Liang Lyu +3Motion PlanningRobot Motion Planning

    School of Surveying and Mapping, Information Engineering University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China · School of Geodesy and Geomatics, Hubei Luojia Laboratory, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China

  13. Online Generation of Collision-Free Trajectories in Dynamic Environments

    Feb 28, 2026Nermin Covic, Bakir LacevicConstrained Motion PlanningTrajectory Optimization

    Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

  14. Planning Method for Skill-Based Control of Robots Using a PLC as Skill Trigger

    Feb 28, 2026Andreas Gaugenrieder, Hari Hara Balasubramaniam, Jannik Möhrle +1Robotic ControlRobot Task Planning

    Fraunhofer Institute for Casting, Composite and Processing Technology IGCV · Fraunhofer Institute for Casting, Composite and Processing Technology IGCV, Am Technologiezentrum 10, 86159 Augsburg, Germany · Institute for Machine Tools and Industrial Management, Technical University of Munich +1

  15. Hierarchical Trajectory Planning of Floating-Base Multi-Link Robot for Maneuvering in Confined Environments

    Feb 25, 2026Yicheng Chen, Jinjie Li, Haokun Liu +3Robot Motion PlanningMotion Planning

    Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan

  16. NovaPlan: Zero-Shot Long-Horizon Manipulation via Closed-Loop Video Language Planning

    Feb 23, 2026Jiahui Fu, Junyu Nan, Lingfeng Sun +7Long-Horizon Robotic ManipulationZero-Shot Robotic Manipulation

    Robotics and AI Institute · Carnegie Mellon University · Brown University +1

  17. Hilbert-Augmented Reinforcement Learning for Scalable Multi-Robot Coverage and Exploration

    Feb 23, 2026Tamil Selvan Gurunathan, Aryya GangopadhyayMulti-Robot ExplorationMulti-Robot Systems

  18. Path planning for unmanned surface vehicle based on predictive artificial potential field. International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems

    Feb 22, 2026Jia Song, Ce Hao, Jiangcheng SuMotion PlanningRobot Motion Planning

    School of Astronautics, Beihang University, Beijing, China · Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

  19. Temporal-Logic-Aware Frontier-Based Exploration

    Feb 21, 2026Azizollah Taheri, Derya AksaraySTL Motion PlanningMotion Planning

    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northeastern University.

  20. From Legible to Inscrutable Trajectories: (Il)legible Motion Planning Accounting for Multiple Observers

    Feb 9, 2026Ananya Yammanuru, Maria Lusardi, Nancy M. Amato +1Trajectory OptimizationTrajectory Generation

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL 61801, USA

  21. CARE: Consistent Action-Response Execution for Human-Guided Robot Transport

    Jan 23, 2026Ning Liu, Sen Shen, Zheng Li +4Human-Robot CollaborationShared Autonomy

    School of Engineering, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Perth, 6009, WA, Australia · Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR · School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, QLD, Australia

  22. RPT*: Global Planning with Probabilistic Terminals for Target Search in Complex Environments

    Jan 19, 2026Yunpeng Lyu, Chao Cao, Ji Zhang +2Robot Motion Planning

    Global College, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. · Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University.

  23. A Shared Control Framework for Mobile Robots with Planning-Level Intention Prediction

    Nov 12, 2025Jinyu Zhang, Lijun Han, Feng Jian +2Mobile RoboticsHuman-Robot Collaboration

  24. ART-TEB: Adaptive Trajectory Planning for Mobile Robots in Cluttered Environments

    Oct 30, 2025Hahjin Lee, Young J. KimTrajectory OptimizationTrajectory Generation

    Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Ewha Womans University in Korea

  25. STITCHER: Constrained Trajectory Planning in Complex Environments with Real-Time Motion Primitive Search

    Oct 16, 2025Helene J. Levy, Brett T. LopezConstrained Motion PlanningTrajectory Generation

    VECTR Laboratory, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

  26. ERUPT: An Open Toolkit for Interfacing with Robot Motion Planners in Extended Reality

    Oct 2, 2025Isaac Ngui, Courtney McBeth, André Santos +6RoboticsHuman-Robot Interaction

    Parasol Lab, Siebel School of Computing and Data Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820 USA · Insper, São Paulo, Brazil · Department of Computer Science at Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), Mexico City, Mexico

  27. First Plan Then Evaluate: Multi-Target Planning with Post-Planning Success Evaluation Improves Learning-Based Grasping Pipelines

    Sep 8, 2025Martin Matak, Mohanraj Devendran Shanthi, Karl Van Wyk +1Robotic GraspingRobot Motion Planning

    Kahlert School of Computing and the Robotics Center, University of Utah. · NVIDIA, USA.

  28. Real-time autonomous magnetic microrobot navigation across dynamic and biologically relevant environments

    Sep 5, 2025Yanda Yang, Max Sokolich, Fatma Ceren Kirmizitas +3Robot NavigationRobotics

    Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark 19716, USA. · Department of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark 19716, USA. · School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.

  29. Monte Carlo Tree Search with Tensor Factorization for Optimization Problems in Robotics

    Jul 7, 2025Teng Xue, Yan Zhang, Amirreza Razmjoo +1Monte Carlo Tree SearchTT Decomposition

    Idiap Research Institute, Martigny, Switzerland · École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland

  30. AntiGrounding: Executable Robot Trajectories as Visual Prompts for VLM-Guided Manipulation

    Jun 14, 2025Wenbo Li, Yiteng Chen, Wenhao Li +1Trajectory GenerationLanguage-Conditioned Robot Manipulation

    School of Software Engineering, South China University of Technology