Faster sample-based motion planning using instance-based learning

We present a novel approach to improve the performance of sample-based motion planners by learning from prior instances. Our formulation stores the results of prior collision and local planning queries. This information is used to accelerate the performance of planners based on probabilistic collision checking, select new local paths in free space, and compute an efficient order to perform queries along a search path in a graph. We present fast and novel algorithms to perform k-NN (k-nearest neighbor) queries in high dimensional configuration spaces based on locality-sensitive hashing and derive tight bounds on their accuracy. The k-NN queries are used to perform instance-based learning and have a sub-linear time complexity. Our approach is general, makes no assumption about the sampling scheme, and can be used with various sample-based motion planners, including PRM, Lazy- PRM, RRT and RRT, by making small changes to these planners.We observe up to 100% improvement in the performance of various planners on rigid and articulated robots.