Air University

Department of Mechatronics Engineering

Path Planning for Robots: HW1 Elementary geometry and Dubin’s car

Instructions: Submit your homework by the date announced in the lecture. Homework should be in PDF
format not more than 2 pages. File should be named as follows: yournamePPMTS. Any two similar
assignments will both be given zero marks in the total assignment marks for this course.

1. Consider a circle centered at C (1, 3) with radius R=2 cm. Generate 30 points of the circle
in the range 𝜃 = (0,2𝜋). From the second point, draw a tangent on the circle. Write the
equation of the tangent and find its intercepts. Plot the circle and the tangent using
Matlab® or any other program.
2. Consider two circles C1 and C2 with centers and radii [(1, 6), 2] and [(9, 15), 2]
respectively. Find the equations of the two common external tangents to these circles.
Plot both the circles and the external tangents, using Matlab or any other program.
3. A point robot is at the point A:(-1, 6) on C1 and has to go to the point B: (9, 17) on C2.
What is the orientation of the robot on both these points if movement is clockwise on
both circles? How much distance is travelled by the robot from A to B?
4. Consider a floor of a room 10 feet by 10 feet. Take a x-y grid 1 foot each and plot a
surface S1 using the 3D surf(x,y,z) command in Matlab.
5. Now let the elevation of each point z increase linearly by 6 inches for each foot travelled
in x and y. Again plot the surface S2.
6. Take any two points A and B on S2 and find the distance travelled by the point robot
between A and B.

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