Velocity-Change-Space-based dynamic motion planning for mobile robots navigation

This paper deals with the problem of dynamic motion planning in an unknown environment, where the workspace is cluttered with moving obstacles and robots. First, we give the principle of hybrid velocity obstacles, the definition of the preferred velocity and the collision-avoidance behavior. Second, we give new rules for the size regulation of obstacles and the kinematic and dynamic constraints of wheeled robot. Then, we establish a new Velocity Change Space (VCS) using the changes of the speed and direction of the robot's velocity as coordinate axis, and map the goal, velocity obstacles and dynamics constraints in this space. Finally, we explore the dynamic motion planning problem in the VCS. Mobile robot making motion planning in its velocity change window is achieved in multiple sensing-acting time steps, and directly gets the new velocity using point search and multi-objective optimization. We apply VCS-based motion planning methods to mobile robots, and simulation is used to illustrate the collisionfree, interactive, un-conservative, foresighted and multi-objective optimized navigation of mobile robots. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.