PyBullet Industrial Path Planner: Handling Transitional Movements in Constrained Robot Cell Environments

This work extends the PyBullet Industrial (PBI) simulation library. PBI was developed to address the limitations of simulators like CoppeliaSim and Gazebo by integrating process modeling into robotic simulations with a focus on industrial applications. A key feature is the simulation of additive and subtractive processes. However, the library lacks functionalities for planning transitional movements, such as tool changes and part handling, which are essential for creating complete, executable process sequences.
To address this, the PyBullet Industrial Path Planner extends PBI by integrating the Open Motion Planning Library (OMPL). This enables the planning of collision-free joint paths, guided by process-specific constraints and customizable cost functions. In several example scenarios, planned paths were evaluated in simulation and parameterized via integrated numerical control (NC) code modules for deployment on physical robots.