Navigation software system development for a mobile robot to avoid obstacles in a dynamic environment using laser sensor

Abstract

The need for Autonomous machines are starting to become an increasingly sought after necessity in human society. As people become busier, they tend to be more dependent upon technology. Therefore, the need arises for Autonomous machines to help perform as many of society's tasks as possible. These Autonomous machines will also allow workers to perform these tasks in a very harsh and hazardous workplace and further than the ability of the employees. Utilizing advanced sensors such laser, sonar, and camera integrated with intelligent software system will make the mobile robot more intelligent and increase the degree of freedom to perform very sophisticated robotics tasks. In this paper, using the Matlab platform to build a mobile robot in a virtual reality equipped with laser sensor as the only source of perception to navigate in a dynamic environment was developed. The Mobile robot software system integrated with a prediction algorithm based on potential field algorithms were used to improve the robot's navigation. The developed software system was tested, and the result was compared with and without the prediction software system. The final results showed improvement of the navigation compared to the different sensors such a sonar sensor.