Mobile robot navigation using a sensor-based control strategy

Abstract

This work presents a new methodology for navigating mobile robots in unknown environments based on the robot's perception. The interaction between the robot and the environment is modelled, and control laws are designed so that the robot is constrained to move on the Voronoi diagram of the environment. The proposed method enables the robot to explore an unknown scene without any reference trajectory or any prior knowledge about the environment and avoiding the obstacles. We apply this approach on an indoor mobile robot using a 2D laser range finder. We show that the displacement errors remain bounded when the movements of the robot are constrained by sensor based control laws, that results in a precise self-localization and reliable map building. Experimental results shown in this article validate this methodology.