There are many ways to describe what happens in this video. Karaman and Frazzoli and friends, the scientists and engineers behind it, choose one of the less poetical ways: “The RRT* algorithm is used together with the Ball Trees algorithm and a memoization technique for asymptotically-optimal path planning in high-dimensional configuration spaces for manipulation purposes.” They also offer technical papers, which explain in detail.
But for the layperson, at first glance it’s all about arms:
(HT Valeria Roman]