An insect-based approach to autonomous mobile robot navigation

Autonomy is an important capacity to a robot which works in the circumstances of real world. Navigating a robot in an unfamiliar terrain is a major topic of autonomy. This paper presents an insect-based approach to autonomous mobile robot navigation in an unknown world. In the “N-antennae robot method”, the robot is considered as an simple insect with N antennae with which it detects the surrounding environment. Each antenna is activated if it hits an obstacle. The robot architecture is presented and different levels of behavior are defined. The N-antennae robot method is then described. It can be divided into 4 parts: 1. Simulation of an antenna, 2. Relations between the environment and the antennae status, 3. Principles of “N-antennae robot” method, 4. Rule format and program structure. The method was programmed and tested in various environments. Several are only simulated, others are reals. An example of the robot´s path illustrates the method. We conclude on the efficiency of the method and we present future developments of this approach using a multi-agent system