Reactive Path Shaping: Local Path Planning for Autonomous Mobile Robots

Abstract

Abstract This paper introduces a path generator for autonomous nonholonomic mobile robots in partially known aisle environments. Reactive Path Shaping (RPS) is designed for autonomous vehicle obstacle avoidance and utilizes information about its environment through ultrasonic sensors. A path is constructed one piece at a time, based upon local environmental information. Each piece is initially considered to be rough and needs to be appropriately “shaped,” or smoothed, to meet mobile robot nonholonomic kinematic constraints. Experiments on a simulated vehicle with ultrasonic sensors are briefly discussed.