Sampling-based Task and Kinodynamic Motion Planning under Semantic Uncertainty

Abstract

This paper tackles the problem of integrated task and kinodynamic motion planning in uncertain environments. We consider a robot with nonlinear dynamics tasked with a Linear Temporal Logic over finite traces ($\ltlf$) specification operating in a partially observable environment. Specifically, the uncertainty is in the semantic labels of the environment. We show how the problem can be modeled as a Partially Observable Stochastic Hybrid System that captures the robot dynamics, $\ltlf$ task, and uncertainty in the environment state variables. We propose an anytime algorithm that takes advantage of the structure of the hybrid system, and combines the effectiveness of decision-making techniques and sampling-based motion planning. We prove the soundness and asymptotic optimality of the algorithm. Results show the efficacy of our algorithm in uncertain environments, and that it consistently outperforms baseline methods.