Primitive Action Based Combined Task and Motion Planning for the Service Robot

The need for combined task and motion planning (CTAMP) in robotics is well known as robotic technologies become more mature. The goal of CTAMP is to determine a proper sequence of a robot’s actions based on symbolic and geometric reasoning. Because of the fundamental difference in symbolic and geometric reasoning, a CTAMP system often requires an interface module between the two reasoning modules. We propose a CTAMP system in which a symbolic action sequence is generated in task planning, and each action is verified geometrically in motion planning using the off-the-shelf planners and reasoners. The approach is that a set of action models is defined with PDDL in the interface module (action library) and the required information to each planner is automatically provided by the interface module. The proposed method was successfully implemented in three simulated experiments that involve manipulation tasks. According to our findings, the proposed method is effective in responding to changes in the environment and uncertainty with errors in recognition of the environment and the robot motion control.