Mobile Robot Motion Framework Based on Enhanced Robust Panel Method

Abstract

This paper proposes a framework for the mobile robot motion in partially unknown static and dynamic environments. Its main part is a path planner which is based on the enhanced robust panel method (ERPM). This proposed method improves an existing panel method in order to be employed for moving obstacles represented as open polygonal chains. The robustness of the proposed method is provided due to the automatic adjustment of the potential field parameters. Therefore, the proposed path-planning strategy incorporates relevant obstacle pruning and activation window algorithms to speed up the overall navigation process. Furthermore, the modified Histogramic-In-Motion-Map (MHIMM) method is proposed to continuously update a grid-based map of the environment. The path planning and robot motion performance evaluation with respect to the sensor noise and different environments is done using various metrics. The effectiveness and robustness of the proposed motion framework are demonstrated through numerous realistic scenarios within ROS environment with Pioneer 3DX mobile robot.