Autonomous 3D Exploration of Indoor Environment Based on Wavefront Algorithm

Developing an autonomous indoor mobile robot navigation system from scratch is very difficult and it takes a long time. It requires a series of complex tasks such as handling given sensor inputs, calculating all the information needed for autonomous navigation, and controlling actuators required for movement. In this paper, an autonomous navigation system for indoor mobile robots is introduced mainly based on open source provided by the robot operating system. The presented system is capable of autonomously navigating an unstructured indoor environment avoiding collision with static or dynamic objects. To this end, the system consists of three main modules: mapping, localization, and planning. The mapping module builds a global map for an unknown environment by means of a simultaneous localization and mapping algorithm based on laser scanner data. The localization module estimates the mobile robot’s pose within the prebuilt map by way of an adaptive Monte Carlo localization approach. The planning module builds a local cost map for collision avoidance, generates collision-free trajectories to reach a goal pose based on the cost map, and produces control commands to follow the trajectories. The presented system has been tested not only in simulation environments built in the Gazebo simulator but also in real environments utilizing the Jackal mobile robot, to validate its performance for autonomous navigation including collision avoidance.

The obstacle avoidance and navigation are important tasks for a mobile robot in applications such as industry, military, exploration and automated vehicles. This paper presents an implementation of mapping and navigation of autonomous mobile robot using Robot Operating System (ROS) and Orbbec Astra camera. In recent days, Lidar is used for the mapping and navigation problem by sensing the objects which are above floor level by using only a single horizontal scanning line and this may result in inaccurate generation of map leads to collision during autonomous navigation of mobile robots. In order to overcome limitation of Lidar, Orbbec Astra (Kinect) camera is used for mapping of indoor environment which can detect objects which are above and below the floor level and navigation of mobile robot from start to target location without colliding with obstacles. Experimental results show the map of the indoor environment generated using Orbbec Astra camera is matched with real indoor environment, and generated map is tested experimentally to navigate the mobile robot from start to target location without collision with obstacles.KeywordsMobile robotsMappingNavigationOrbbec Astra cameraROS

This paper presents a new tool based on DSmT (Dezert-Smarandache Theory) and fast-Hough self-localization which is applied to autonomous mobile robot's map reconstruction. Uncertainty from sonar information is fused and managed in rebuilding grid map effectively with DSmT, since fast-Hough self-localization from laser information overcomes some shortcomings of classical Hough transformation including high amount of computation and low precision of localization. When a virtual mobile robot evolves in the virtual environment with different outline features, the result can adequately testify that the new tool owns better performance to rebuild map. In general, this research provides an approach for studying autonomous navigation of mobile robot or unmanned land vehicle (ULV) in unknown environment, also provides a human- computer interactive interface to manage and manipulate the robot remotely.

Autonomous navigation of mobile robots is a challenging task that requires them to travel from their initial position to their destination without collision in an environment. Reinforcement Learning methods enable a state action function in mobile robots suited to their environment. During trial-and-error interaction with its surroundings, it helps a robot to find an ideal behavior on its own. The Deep Q Network (DQN) algorithm is used in TurtleBot 3 (TB3) to achieve the goal by successfully avoiding the obstacles. But it requires a large number of training iterations. This research mainly focuses on a mobility robot’s best path prediction utilizing DQN and the Artificial Potential Field (APF) algorithms. First, a TB3 Waffle Pi DQN is built and trained to reach the goal. Then the APF shortest path algorithm is incorporated into the DQN algorithm. The proposed planning approach is compared with the standard DQN method in a virtual environment based on the Robot Operation System (ROS). The results from the simulation show that the combination is effective for DQN and APF gives a better optimal path and takes less time when compared to the conventional DQN algorithm. The performance improvement rate of the proposed DQN + APF in comparison with DQN in terms of the number of successful targets is attained by 88%. The performance of the proposed DQN + APF in comparison with DQN in terms of average time is achieved by 0.331 s. The performance of the proposed DQN + APF in comparison with DQN average rewards in which the positive goal is attained by 85% and the negative goal is attained by −90%.

Robot navigation and obstacle avoidance are from the most important problems in mobile robots, especially in unknown environments. The autonomous navigation of mobile robots has attracted a number of researchers over the years. A wide variety of approaches and algorithms have been proposed to tackle this complex problem. There are many successful localization methods that can determine the robot's position relative to a map using sonar, laser and camera data; however, most localization methods fail under common environmental conditions. In this paper we present a novel method for navigation of autonomous mobile robots in several indoor environments that optimize our old navigation approach, using fuzzy Kalman filter based on extracted lines and fusing data from laser scanner sensors. In this approach, the sonar data and laser measurement are combined using the fuzzy Kalman filter. Finally, the simulation results show that the proposed algorithm offers advantages over previous methods and has improved performance.

Mobile robot navigation with the combination of supervised learning in cerebellum and reward-based learning in basal ganglia

The proposed methodology is an autonomous mapping technique founded on frontier point optimization and map partition exploration. The objective of this methodology is twofold: first, to reduce the robot’s movement path during autonomous mapping, and second, to minimize repeated exploration of the same area. Initially, candidate exploration points are generated by clustering frontier points, which are then subjected to evaluation, and the optimal target point is ascertained based on the evaluation outcomes, the current map partition information, and the map exploration progress. The validity of the proposed algorithm is substantiated through both simulation and real-world scenarios.

The generalized Voronoi diagram (GVD) is a powerful environment representation that defines a set of paths at maximal distance from the obstacles. Many works implicitly use this property to define safe navigation strategies for a mobile robot, but, in practice, only a few explicitly extracts in real time the GVD from the robot perception. In this paper, a real-time skeleton-based visual servoing approach is proposed for safe autonomous navigation of mobile robots in unknown structured environments. The control is based on an approximation of the local GVD using the delta medial axis, a fast and robust skeletonization algorithm. The latter produces a filtered skeleton of the freespace surrounding the robot using a pruning parameter that takes into account the robot size. A unified virtual perception frame is also introduced to project the navigable freespace obtained by possibly multiple sensors and observations. After freespace skeletonization and GVD approximation, a visual servoing control is designed and studied to ensure autonomous robot navigation along the extracted GVD branches. The approach is first tested using a simulated environment. Then, an experimental validation is carried out on a real differential wheelchair allowing the system to navigate safely and autonomously without any human intervention. Static and dynamic environment scenarios are studied. The method is immediately generalizable to any differential drive wheeled robot.

Aiming at the problem of positioning and navigation of mobile robots indoors, this paper designs and implements related functions based on Robot Operating System and laser radar. The core controller of the robot adopts an industrial computer, and is equipped with a laser radar to acquire information about the surrounding environment and develop related algorithms on the Robot Operating System. Realize Simultaneous Localization and Mapping function based on Cartographer algorithm, path planning based on optimal path algorithm and navigation function based on particle filter algorithm. The real machine experiment proves that the system can efficiently perform real-time synchronous positioning and map construction and navigation functions.

This paper proposes an end-to-end method for training convolutional neural networks for autonomous navigation of a mobile robot. Traditional approach for robot navigation consists of three steps. The first step is extracting visual features from the scene using the camera input. The second step is to figure out the current position by using a classifier on the extracted visual features. The last step is making a rule for moving the direction manually or training a model to handle the direction. In contrast to the traditional multi-step method, the proposed visuo-motor navigation system can directly output the linear and angular velocities of the robot from an input image in a single step. The trained model gives wheel velocities for navigation as outputs in real-time making it possible to be implanted on mobile robots such as robotic vacuum cleaner. The experimental results show an average linear velocity error of 2.2 cm/s and average angular velocity error of 3.03 degree/s. The robot deployed with the proposed model can navigate in a real-world environment by only using the camera without relying on any other sensors such as LiDAR, Radar, IR, GPS, IMU.

The objective of this research is to develop a real time obstacle detection and obstacle avoidance for autonomous navigation of mobile robots using a stereo camera in an unstructured environment. Autonomous navigation of mobile robots demands a) Exact determination of position and orientation of Robot and b) Accurate determination of size, shape, depth and range of potential obstacles in the environment. Simple kinematic model is used for mobile robot and stereo camera with pan and tilt provision is considered for long range operation. Complete 3D reconstruction of object/obstacle is obtained from the stereo matching algorithm and with triangulation method. The pose (position and orientation) of mobile robot is formulated from the static object observation with stereo reference matching points using RANSAC (RANdom SAmple Consensus) in successive frames. Potential field based obstacle avoidance formulation is carried out by using the obstacle range, size information, mobile robot position and orientation. Finally, proportional derivative navigation control loop along with obstacle avoidance algorithm is formulated and verified.

This paper presents an improvement for the software implementation (MOFS) of a user adaptive fuzzy control system for autonomous navigation of mobile robots in unknown environments. This improvement consists of a priority areas deflnition where the environment is measured by a PLS laser sensor, in order to get a reduction in the number of fuzzy rules and also in the computational cost, and hence obtaining improvements in the trajectory. This system has been tested in a pioneer mobile robot and on a robotic wheelchair, odometry sensors are used to localize the robots and the goal positions. The system is able to drive the robots to their goal position avoiding static and dynamic obstacles, without using any pre-built map. This approach improves the way to measure the danger of the obstacles, the way to follow the walls of corridors and the detection of doors. These improvements reduce the zigzag efiect of the previous system by making the trajectories signiflcantly straighter and hence reducing the time to reach the goal position.

Development of collision free path planning algorithm for warehouse mobile robot

A new concept named ¿function sector¿ is proposed in this paper, aiming to give an efficient implementation for the laser based autonomous navigation of mobile robots under complex outdoor terrain conditions. First, one laser scan can be partitioned into two kinds of function sectors: ¿Guidance sector¿ and ¿inspecting sector¿. Then, the function sectors are reconstructed following a new reconstruction strategy to form a virtual guidance scan, while combining the 2.5D information into account. Finally, an improved Angle Potential Field Method is applied on the virtual guidance scan to generate the navigation orders. The new algorithm is tested on a mobile robot, and the experimental results prove the distinguishing validity of our method explicitly.

<p align="left">Path planning is an essential task for the navigation of Autonomous Mobile Robot. This is one of the basic problems in robotics. Path planning algorithms are classified as global or local, depending on the knowledge of surrounding environment. In local path planning, the environment is unknown to the robot, and sensors are used to detect the obstacles and to avoid collision. Bug algorithms are one of the frequently used path planning algorithms where a mobile robot moves to the target by detecting the nearest obstacle and avoiding it with limited information about the environment. This proposed Critical-PointBug algorithm, is a new Bug algorithm for path planning of mobile robots. This algorithm tries to minimize traversal of obstacle border by searching few important points on the boundary of obstacle area as a rotation point to goal and end with a complete path from source to goal.</p>