This is the first installment of a two-part tutorial. The goal of the first part is to give the reader a basic understanding of the technical issues and types of approaches in solving the basic path-planning or obstacle-avoidance problem. The second installment will cover more advanced issues, including feedback, differential constraints, and uncertainty. Note that this is a brief tutorial rather than a comprehensive survey of methods. For the latter, consult some of the recent textbooks [4], [9].