Obstacle Avoidance Design for Humanoid Robot Based on Four Infrared Sensors

A behavior strategy of humanoid robot for obstacle avoidance based on four infrared sensors is proposed and implemented on an autonomous humanoid robot. A mechanical structure with 26 degrees of freedom is design so that an implemented small-size humanoid robot named TWNHR-III is able to accomplish five walking motions. Three walking experiments are presented to illustrate that the proposed biped structure lets TWNHR-III can move forward, turn, and slip. One electronic compass and four infrared sensors are mounted on TWNHR-III to obtain the head direction of the robot and detect obstacles, respectively. Based on the obtained information from these sensors, a decision tree method is proposed to decide one behavior from five movements: walk forward, turn right and left, and slip right and left. Two MATLAB simulations and one real experiment are presented to illustrate that the robot can avoid obstacles autonomously and go to the destination effectively.