Motion Path Planning for Mobile Robots

Potential field methods are rapidly gaining popularity in obstacle avoidance applications for mobile robots. The general principles of potential field path planning are presented first. The electrostatic potential field (EPF) path planner is then combined with a twolayered fuzzy logic inference engine and implemented for mobile robot navigation in a 2-D dynamic environment. The first layer of the fuzzy logic inference engine performs sensor fusion from sensor readings into a fuzzy variable, collision, providing information about possible collisions in four directions, front, back, left, and right. The second layer guarantees collision avoidance with dynamic obstacles while following the trajectory generated by the electrostatic potential field.