Reflexive sonar-based navigation of intelligent robot manipulators in dynamic environments using fuzzy control

摘要

This paper presents intelligent robot motion planning based on fuzzy rules for the idea of artificial potential fields using analytic harmonic functions. The purpose of the fuzzy controller is to generate commands for the servo-systems of the robot so it can autonomously find its way to its goal, while reacting in real-time to unexpected events by using a specific active range finding device, i.e. an ultrasonic sensor. Sonar range data is used to build a description of the robot's surroundings. Range measurements are integrated using a robust method, which can cope with uncertainties and errors in the given data. The proposed approach is simple, computationally fast and applies to whole-arm collision avoidance for n d.o.f. arm manipulators. The stability of the overall closed-loop system composed by the nonlinear robot dynamics and the fuzzy controller is guaranteed by Lyapunov theory. Simulation results are provided to validate the theoretical concepts and a comparative analysis demonstrates the benefits of the proposed obstacle avoidance algorithm.