MyRoboPathOpen Robotics Lab
autonomous slam17 min readUpdated 2026-03-14Advanced

Local Planners & Trajectory Controllers: TEB vs DWB vs MPPI

Tune and evaluate local trajectory generation: Timed Elastic Band (TEB), Dynamic Window Approach (DWB), and Model Predictive Path Integral (MPPI) controllers for dynamic obstacle avoidance.

MyRoboPath Engineering Lab
Peer-Reviewed Open-Source Hardware & Firmware Guide

Key Engineering Takeaways

  • •Global planners generate a static path; local controllers execute real-time closed-loop velocity commands (cmd_vel) avoiding dynamic moving obstacles at 20-50Hz.
  • •TEB deforms the trajectory like an elastic rubber band subjected to repulsive forces from obstacles.
  • •The MPPI controller uses GPU/SIMD multi-threading to sample thousands of candidate trajectories per second.
Prerequisites
  • • Nav2 costmaps
  • • Differential kinematics

The Role of Local Controllers in Autonomous Systems

While global planners compute a static route over several seconds, local trajectory planners operate in a high-speed feedback loop (20-50Hz) reacting to pedestrians, other robots, and physical motor acceleration limits.

Tags:#TEB#DWB#MPPI#Local Planner#Trajectory Controller#Obstacle Avoidance