A novel reactive navigation strategy for mobile robots based on chaotic exploration and TTM self-construction

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present a novel method for integrating of chaotic exploration and thinning-based topological mapping to deal with the "traverse targets and return" problem applied for robot navigation in unknown environments. This new strategy can guarantee the robot stronger ability of exploring unknown environments, as well as recording and selecting optimal trajectory to return. Design/methodology/approach - The chaotic dynamic evolution of controlled multi-scroll system is linked to the multi-sensory perception and reactive behaviors of a mobile robot. The thinning-based topological map (TTM), as the contextual layer of the cognitive system, is adopted to achieve the environmental recording in the process of robot exploration and navigation. Once the robot arrives at the terminal target via avoiding all the obstacles, the TTM has been built in real time. Based on the records in the topological map, a short and smooth point-to-point path is generated to achieve the exit from target and to move back to the starting point. Findings - The simulation results confirmed that the proposed solution is suitable to resolve the robot's tasks of obstacle avoidance, target retrieving, and return, also has better performance than traditional strategies. Originality/value - The presented novel method focuses integration of chaotic exploration and TTM self-construction. The chaotic perception and control technique permits the robot to explore most of the environmental information within the smallest explored area. The introduced topological map, generated by applying a thinning algorithm, guarantees a short and smooth returning trajectory for the robot.