3D Path Planning for Flying/Crawling Robots

World modeling and path planning techniques for a mobile robot that can navigate through a three dimensional world are developed. A crystal map (an extension of the 2D meadow map representation) serves as the world model. A free-space decomposition algorithm is described that produces this representation. Four variations of the A* search technique are applied to the crystal map producing paths for a robot that can fly and/or crawl through the modeled world. Path improvement strategies are also described. Simulation studies indicate the feasibility of these methods.