A new Bug-type navigation algorithm considering practical implementation issues for mobile robots

A new Bug-type algorithm is proposed in this paper for the navigation of mobile robots. Unlike the related works which mainly focus on the theoretical analysis while ignoring the implementation issues, the new method presents not only an abstract concept which shortens the path length comparing with some previous works in the premise of guaranteeing convergence by its new switching conditions, but also a lower layer approach to realize its concept by keeping a safe distance to obstacles for collision avoidance. Simulation studies show that the new method generates shorter path than the classical Bug2 algorithm and a recent work termed as Bug2+. Experiment results on a real Pioneer3-AT robot further verify its practicability.