Two-dimensional robot navigation among unknown stationary polygonal obstacles
- Center for Intelligent Systems, Haifa (Israel). Dept. of Computer Science
The authors describe an algorithm for navigating a polygonal robot, capable of translational motion, in an unknown environment. The environment contains stationary polygonal obstacles and is bounded by polygonal walls, all of which are initially unknown to the robot. The environment is learned during the navigation process by use of a laser range-finding device, and new knowledge is integrated with previously acquired information. A partial map of the environment is thus obtained. The map contains parts of the obstacles that were seen by the robot and the free space between them. The obstacles in the map are transformed into a new set of expanded polygonal obstacles. This enables treating the robot as a point instead of a polygon, and the navigation problem is reduced to point navigation among unknown polygonal obstacles. A navigation graph is built from the transformed obstacles in the map. This is a partial visibility graph of the enlarged obstacles. A search is conducted on the graph for a path to the destination. The path is piecewise linear; at its corners, the robot stops, scans its environment, and updates the map, the obstacles, and the planned path. The algorithm is proved to converge to the desired destination in a finite number of steps provided a path to the destination exists. If such a path does not exist, then the navigation process terminates in a finite number of steps with the conclusion that the destination is unreachable.
- OSTI ID:
- 5953067
- Journal Information:
- IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States), Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States) Vol. 9:1; ISSN 1042-296X; ISSN IRAUEZ
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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