Abstract
In this paper, we propose a general and robust robotic path planning framework for both planar and terrain environments using level set methods. The framework is general in the sense that it can be used for both 2D and 3D environments. It generates a collision-free optimum paths for the entire or a portion of the configuration space. The optimum planned path can be controlled to follow the safest, shortest, or hybrid path. We have demonstrated the robustness of the proposed framework by correctly extracting all planned paths of complex maps with several obstacles.