scholarly journals A Real-Time Hydrodynamic-Based Obstacle Avoidance System for Non-holonomic Mobile Robots with Curvature Constraints

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 2144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pei-Li Kuo ◽  
Chung-Hsun Wang ◽  
Han-Jung Chou ◽  
Jing-Sin Liu

The harmonic potential field of an incompressible nonviscous fluid governed by the Laplace’s Equation has shown its potential for being beneficial to autonomous unmanned vehicles to generate smooth, natural-looking, and predictable paths for obstacle avoidance. The streamlines generated by the boundary value problem of the Laplace’s Equation have explicit, easily computable, or analytic vector fields as the path tangent or robot heading specification without the waypoints and higher order path characteristics. We implemented an obstacle avoidance approach with a focus on curvature constraint for a non-holonomic mobile robot regarded as a particle using curvature-constrained streamlines and streamline changing via pure pursuit. First, we use the potential flow field around a circle to derive three primitive curvature-constrained paths to avoid single obstacles. Furthermore, the pure pursuit controller is implemented to achieve a smooth transition between the streamline paths in the environment with multiple obstacles. In addition to comparative simulations, a proof of concept experiment implemented on a two-wheel driving mobile robot with range sensors validates the practical usefulness of the integrated system that is able to navigate smoothly and safely among multiple cylinder obstacles. The computational requirement of the obstacle avoidance system takes advantage of an a priori selection of fast computing primitive streamline paths, thus, making the system able to generate online a feasible path with a lower maximum curvature that does not violate the curvature constraint.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (13) ◽  
pp. 5963
Author(s):  
Phuc Thanh-Thien Nguyen ◽  
Shao-Wei Yan ◽  
Jia-Fu Liao ◽  
Chung-Hsien Kuo

In the industrial environment, Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGVs) generally run on a planned route. Among trajectory-tracking algorithms for unmanned vehicles, the Pure Pursuit (PP) algorithm is prevalent in many real-world applications because of its simple and easy implementation. However, it is challenging to decelerate the AGV’s moving speed when turning on a large curve path. Moreover, this paper addresses the kidnapped-robot problem occurring in spare LiDAR environments. This paper proposes an improved Pure Pursuit algorithm so that the AGV can predict the trajectory and decelerate for turning, thus increasing the accuracy of the path tracking. To solve the kidnapped-robot problem, we use a learning-based classifier to detect the repetitive pattern scenario (e.g., long corridor) regarding 2D LiDAR features for switching the localization system between Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM) method and Odometer method. As experimental results in practice, the improved Pure Pursuit algorithm can reduce the tracking error while performing more efficiently. Moreover, the learning-based localization selection strategy helps the robot navigation task achieve stable performance, with 36.25% in completion rate more than only using SLAM. The results demonstrate that the proposed method is feasible and reliable in actual conditions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 172988142110264
Author(s):  
Jiqing Chen ◽  
Chenzhi Tan ◽  
Rongxian Mo ◽  
Hongdu Zhang ◽  
Ganwei Cai ◽  
...  

Among the shortcomings of the A* algorithm, for example, there are many search nodes in path planning, and the calculation time is long. This article proposes a three-neighbor search A* algorithm combined with artificial potential fields to optimize the path planning problem of mobile robots. The algorithm integrates and improves the partial artificial potential field and the A* algorithm to address irregular obstacles in the forward direction. The artificial potential field guides the mobile robot to move forward quickly. The A* algorithm of the three-neighbor search method performs accurate obstacle avoidance. The current pose vector of the mobile robot is constructed during obstacle avoidance, the search range is narrowed to less than three neighbors, and repeated searches are avoided. In the matrix laboratory environment, grid maps with different obstacle ratios are compared with the A* algorithm. The experimental results show that the proposed improved algorithm avoids concave obstacle traps and shortens the path length, thus reducing the search time and the number of search nodes. The average path length is shortened by 5.58%, the path search time is shortened by 77.05%, and the number of path nodes is reduced by 88.85%. The experimental results fully show that the improved A* algorithm is effective and feasible and can provide optimal results.


Author(s):  
Suolin Duan ◽  
Yunfeng Li ◽  
Shuyue Chen ◽  
Lanping Chen ◽  
Ling Zou ◽  
...  

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