Combining goal-directed, reactive and reflexive navigation in autonomous mobile robots

Abstract

This paper describes a simple fuzzy navigation system for autonomous mobile robots. The navigation system achieves three different behaviours: obstacle-free navigation, reactive obstacle-avoidance, and a reflex; the executive monitors sensory inputs and activates the appropriate behavioural rules of navigation. The obstacle-free navigation rules drive the mobile robot on straight-line path segments, generated by a visibility graph planner in a polygonal world. The obstacle-avoidance rules navigate the robot away from unmapped obstacles, while keeping the attraction of the (sub)goal. The reflex performs an overriding emergency brake when the robot is confronted by sudden obstacles appearing at a close range. The system was tested on a realistic (kinematic and dynamic) simulation of a mobile robot base. The navigation system exhibited 'intelligent' human-like behaviour.