Development of sensor-based motion planning method for an autonomous navigation of robotic vehicles

This paper presents the motion planning of robotic vehicles for the path tracking and the obstacle avoidance. To follow the given path, the vehicle moves through the turning radius obtained through the pure pursuit method, which is a geometric path tracking method. In this paper, we assume that the vehicle is equipped with a 2D laser scanner, allowing it to avoid obstacles within its sensing range. The turning radius for avoiding the obstacle, which is inversely proportional to the virtual force, is then calculated. Therefore, these two kinds of the turning radius are used to generate the steering angle for the front wheel of the vehicle. And the vehicle reduces the velocity when it meets the obstacle or the large steering angle using the potentials of obstacle points and the steering angle. Thus the motion planning of the vehicle is done by planning the steering angle for the front wheels and the velocity. Finally, the performance of the proposed method is tested through simulation. © ICROS 2011.