Trajectory Planning for a Knuckle Boom Crane Using Differential Dynamic Programming

Zhiwei Wang, Lingchong Gao, Michael Kleeberger, Johannes Fottner

2025

Abstract

Knuckle boom cranes are widely used in numerous applications, making effective obstacle avoidance trajectory planning critical for automation. However, the cranes’ inherent kinematic constraints pose significant challenges to designing and optimizing such trajectory planning problems. In this study, we develop a trajectory planning method that addresses obstacle avoidance under these kinematic constraints by employing Differential Dynamic Programming (DDP). We first derive an explicit Euler-based dynamic model of the crane, integrating Baumgarte stabilization to suppress kinematic constraint violations within the DDP framework. Additionally, a relaxed log-barrier function is introduced to handle both states and obstacle-avoidance constraints during trajectory planning. Comparative numerical simulations with the Ipopt solver demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in achieving obstacle avoidance and constraints suppression.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Wang Z., Gao L., Kleeberger M. and Fottner J. (2025). Trajectory Planning for a Knuckle Boom Crane Using Differential Dynamic Programming. In Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Simulation and Modeling Methodologies, Technologies and Applications - Volume 1: SIMULTECH; ISBN 978-989-758-759-7, SciTePress, pages 62-69. DOI: 10.5220/0013522000003970

in Bibtex Style

@conference{simultech25,
author={Zhiwei Wang and Lingchong Gao and Michael Kleeberger and Johannes Fottner},
title={Trajectory Planning for a Knuckle Boom Crane Using Differential Dynamic Programming},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Simulation and Modeling Methodologies, Technologies and Applications - Volume 1: SIMULTECH},
year={2025},
pages={62-69},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013522000003970},
isbn={978-989-758-759-7},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Simulation and Modeling Methodologies, Technologies and Applications - Volume 1: SIMULTECH
TI - Trajectory Planning for a Knuckle Boom Crane Using Differential Dynamic Programming
SN - 978-989-758-759-7
AU - Wang Z.
AU - Gao L.
AU - Kleeberger M.
AU - Fottner J.
PY - 2025
SP - 62
EP - 69
DO - 10.5220/0013522000003970
PB - SciTePress