Hybrid Motion Planning Method for Autonomous Robots Using Kinect Based Sensor Fusion and Virtual Plane Approach in Dynamic Environments

Doopalam Tuvshinjargal,Byambaa Dorj,Deok Jin Lee

doi:10.1155/2015/471052

Abstract

A new reactive motion planning method for an autonomous vehicle in dynamic environments is proposed. The new dynamic motion planning method combines a virtual plane based reactive motion planning technique with a sensor fusion based obstacle detection approach, which results in improving robustness and autonomy of vehicle navigation within unpredictable dynamic environments. The key feature of the new reactive motion planning method is based on a local observer in the virtual plane which allows the effective transformation of complex dynamic planning problems into simple stationary in the virtual plane. In addition, a sensor fusion based obstacle detection technique provides the pose estimation of moving obstacles by using a Kinect sensor and a sonar sensor, which helps to improve the accuracy and robustness of the reactive motion planning approach in uncertain dynamic environments. The performance of the proposed method was demonstrated through not only simulation studies but also field experiments using multiple moving obstacles even in hostile environments where conventional method failed.

Highlights

The capability of mobile robots to autonomously navigate and safely avoid obstacles plays a key role for many successful real-world applications [1]
The trajectories of two obstacles were described by the blue and black color lines, the trajectory of the master robot was depicted in the red line, and the goal was indicated by green dot
As can be clearly seen in the real plane and the virtual plane in Figures 10(b) and 10(a), the master robot avoided the first obstacle which was moving into the master robot and successfully reached the target goal after avoiding the collision with the second moving obstacle just before reaching the target

Summary

Introduction

The capability of mobile robots to autonomously navigate and safely avoid obstacles plays a key role for many successful real-world applications [1]. The contribution of the new motion planning method lies on the fact that it integrates a local observer in a virtual plane as a kinematic reactive path planner [23] with a sensor fusion based obstacle detection approach which can provide a relative information of moving obstacles and environments, resulting in an improved robustness and accuracy of the dynamic navigation capability. The integrated hybrid motion planning with the integration of the virtual plane approach and sensor based estimation method allows the robot to find the appropriate windows for the speed and orientation to move with a collision-free path in dynamic environments, making its usage very attractive and suitable for real-time embedded applications.

Definition of Dynamic Motion Planning

Hybrid Reactive Motion Planning Approach

Experimental Results

Conclusion