W e describe the development of a large f ie ld of v iew laser scanning sensor, based on the lateral-eflect photodiode, f o r short range mobile roboi manoeuvres such a s obstacle avoidance and docking. Synchronous detect ion is used t o approach the theoretical l imit of sensor performance. Resul ts suggest that w e are only 82% above this l imit , allowing us t o ez tend the use of lateral ef...

This paper proposes a new approach named predictive control of redundant manipulators based on avoidance manipulability to achieve an on-line control of trajectory tracking and obstacle avoidance for redundant manipulators. In the trajectory tracking process, manipulator is required to keep a configuration with maximal avoidance manipulability in real time. Predictive control in this paper uses...

Online generation of trajectories in robots is a very complex task that involves the combination of different types of movements, i.e., distinct motor primitives. The later are used to model complex behaviors in robots, such as locomotion in irregular terrain and obstacle avoidance. In this paper, we consider two motor primitives: rhythmic and discrete. We study the effect on the robots’ gaits ...

The problem of teleoperating a mobile robot using shared autonomy is addressed: an onboard controller performs close range obstacle avoidance while the operator uses the manipulandum of a haptic probe to designate the desired speed and rate of turn. Sensors on the robot are used to measure obstacle range information. A strategy to convert such range information into forces is described, which a...

This paper presents further developments of the earlier Vector Field Histogram (VFH) method for realtime mobile robot obstacle avoidance. The enhanced method, called VFH+, offers several improvements that result in smoother robot trajectories and greater reliability. VFH+ reduces some of the parameter tuning of the original VFH method by explicitly compensating for the robot width. Also added i...

We present a method for robot path planning in the robot’s configuration space, in the presence of fixed obstacles. Our method employs both combinatorial and gradient-based optimization techniques, but most distinguishably, it employs a Multi-sphere Scheme purposefully developed for two and three-dimensional packing problems. This is a singular feature which not only enables us to use a particu...

Path planning is one of the important aspects in the field of mobile robots. To solve this problem many approaches have been developed. The present research work aims to model immunised system architecture for path planning of autonomous mobile robot by avoiding obstacles, escaping traps and reaching its goal effectively within its environment. Simulation results presented to verify the effecti...

This paper presents an enhancement to the earlier developed Vector Field Histogram (VFH) method for mobile robot obstacle avoidance. The enhanced method, called VFH*, successfully deals with situations that are problematic for purely local obstacle avoidance algorithms. The VFH* method verifies that a particular candidate direction guides the robot around an obstacle. The verification is perfor...

This paper describes how the SGOCE paradigm has been used to evolve developmental programs capable of generating neural networks that control the behavior of simulated insects. This paradigm is characterized by an encoding scheme, by an evolutionary algorithm, and by an incremental strategy that are described in turn. The additional use of an insect model equipped with 6 legs and two antennae m...

This paper proposes a solution to the motion planning and control problem of a point-mass robot which is required to move safely to a designated target in a priori known workspace cluttered with fixed elliptical obstacles of arbitrary position and sizes. A tailored and unique algorithm for target convergence and obstacle avoidance is proposed that will work for any number of fixed obstacles. Th...