This paper by Howie Choset from Carnegie Mellon University surveys recent advancements in coverage path planning for mobile robots. Unlike traditional point-to-point path planning, coverage path planning aims to ensure the robot passes over all points in its free space, making it suitable for applications like robotic demining, snow removal, and lawn mowing. The paper focuses on algorithms for mobile robots operating in a plane, classifying them into heuristic, approximate, partial-approximate, and exact cellular decompositions. It highlights the importance of cellular decompositions in achieving provably complete coverage and discusses the trade-offs between complete and randomized approaches. The paper also addresses issues such as time-to-completion and the availability of a priori information, emphasizing the need for sensor-based coverage methods that use on-board sensors to gather environmental data during operation.This paper by Howie Choset from Carnegie Mellon University surveys recent advancements in coverage path planning for mobile robots. Unlike traditional point-to-point path planning, coverage path planning aims to ensure the robot passes over all points in its free space, making it suitable for applications like robotic demining, snow removal, and lawn mowing. The paper focuses on algorithms for mobile robots operating in a plane, classifying them into heuristic, approximate, partial-approximate, and exact cellular decompositions. It highlights the importance of cellular decompositions in achieving provably complete coverage and discusses the trade-offs between complete and randomized approaches. The paper also addresses issues such as time-to-completion and the availability of a priori information, emphasizing the need for sensor-based coverage methods that use on-board sensors to gather environmental data during operation.