Path Planning for Autonomous Forestry Harvesting Machinery
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URL
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Sähkötekniikan korkeakoulu |
Master's thesis
Authors
Date
2024-01-22
Department
Major/Subject
Autonomous Systems
Mcode
ELEC3055
Degree programme
Master's Programme in ICT Innovation
Language
en
Pages
77+5
Series
Abstract
The changing landscape of the forest sector towards autonomous vehicles poses many complex challenges. Key to this transition is ensuring that vehicles can navigate skilfully in unstructured environments, such as places where there are no predefined paths, like forests and construction sites. This study presents a path planning algorithm that guides an articulated vehicle, taking into account its position and orientation, from its starting point to the desired endpoint. This thesis also covers a comprehensive study of the kinematics of a centrally articulated vehicle, which serves as the basis for the algorithm used. Rigorous tests in various scenarios confirm the robustness of the algorithm, with particular emphasis on minimizing collisions, although there are cases where it may briefly touch the canopy when necessary to ensure optimal navigation. It further explores how to ensure the smoothness and reliability of the path generated, and offers insights into creating a robust visualization environment that supports both simulation and debugging. However, the algorithm cannot adapt to unexpected environmental changes due to the global nature of path planning. Despite this limitation, this work represents an important step towards incorporating forestry autonomy.Description
Supervisor
Rosati Papini, Gastone PietroThesis advisor
Zhou, QuanKeywords
path-planning, Hybrid State-A*, forestry harvesters, kinematics