Motion engineering
Motion planning vs motion control: where the handoff happens
By NOVEMIQ · Engineering explainer
Planning chooses a feasible route through the robot’s configuration space. Control follows a reference using feedback. A successful plan alone does not establish that the physical robot will track it accurately.
- 01Goal and constraints
- 02Planned path
- 03Timed trajectory
- 04Controller and feedback
Understand the boundary
A path describes where the robot should move. A trajectory adds timing. The control layer turns that reference into commands supported by the hardware. Keeping these responsibilities explicit makes faults easier to locate.
What to review
Start an integration review at the planner-to-controller boundary: joint order, units, timestamps, limits, and cancellation behavior. Record both desired and measured motion. A collision-free path can still produce poor execution when these contracts disagree.
Put it into practice
For an illustrative pick-and-place cell, compare the requested joint trajectory with encoder feedback before changing planner settings. Tracking error and planning failure are different observations and need different investigations.
Technical reference
MoveIt concepts. Consult documentation for your selected software version before implementation.
Continue reading
- ROS 2 hardware integration starts with an interface contract
- Isaac Sim and ROS 2: define what crosses the simulation boundary
Bring your integration challenge
NOVEMIQ supports motion planning and control, robot integration, simulation and remote monitoring. Start with your hardware, application and constraints.
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