High-speed Obstacle Avoidance

A new real-time obstacle avoidance approach for mobile robots has been developed and implemented. This approach permits the detection of unknown obstacles simultaneously with the steering of the mobile robot to avoid collisions and advancing toward the target. The novelty of this approach, entitled the Virtual Force Field, lies in the integration of two known concepts: Certainty Grids for obstacle representation, and Potential Fields for navigation. This combination is especially suitable for the accommodation of inaccurate sensor data (such as produced by ultrasonic sensors) as well as for sensor W i n , and enables continuous motion of the robot without stopping in front of obstacles. Experimental results from a mobile robot running at a maximum speed of 0.78 m/sec demonstrate the power of the proposed algorithm.