Intelligent navigation on a autonomous vehicle

The work presented in this paper describes a low cost implementation of mobile vehicles, capable of moving in semi-structured environments, using an ultrasonic sensor based approach for navigation. The first robot developed knows a working map which contains permanent obstacles. The use of external sensing mechanisms allows the vehicle to interact with its environment in a flexible manner, in order to move autonomously in the test area, detecting unknown obstacles and avoid them. The movement is ensured by two stepping motors without feedback. A radio communication system was also developed allowing the transfer of live video pictures and data between the robot and a remote station. The user interface is performed by a portable computer placed onto the robot. In this way it is possible to endow the robot with new capacities, increasing its flexibility. In order to give a greater degree of intelligence, reliability, usability, and safety a second prototype is being developed. To ensure this a more efficient and robust navigation, composed by map acquisition, planning and steering algorithms together with the use of additional sensors such as electronic compass and infrared proximity sensors is being developed. Copyright (C) 1998 IFAC.