Hybrid Motion Planning Method for Autonomous Robots Using Kinect Based Sensor Fusion and Virtual Plane Approach in Dynamic Environments

Abstract

A new reactive motion planning method for an autonomous vehicle in dynamic environments is proposed. The new dynamic motion planning method combines a virtual plane based reactive motion planning technique with a sensor fusion based obstacle detection approach, which results in improving robustness and autonomy of vehicle navigation within unpredictable dynamic environments. The key feature of the new reactive motion planning method is based on a local observer in the virtual plane which allows the effective transformation of complex dynamic planning problems into simple stationary in the virtual plane. In addition, a sensor fusion based obstacle detection technique provides the pose estimation of moving obstacles by using a Kinect sensor and a sonar sensor, which helps to improve the accuracy and robustness of the reactive motion planning approach in uncertain dynamic environments. The performance of the proposed method was demonstrated through not only simulation studies but also field experiments using multiple moving obstacles even in hostile environments where conventional method failed.