A Simple Fuzzy Motion Planning Strategy for Autonomous Mobile Robots

This paper presents a fuzzy motion planning strategy that will enable a mobile robot to navigate in unknown indoor environments. The strategy is sensor-based and simple enough to be implemented in most low-cost systems, yet capable to demonstrate behaviours only found in high-end systems, such as wall-following and obstacle-avoidance. The strategy is composed of three modes: the normal mode, the wall-following mode, and the sub-target mode. Switch between these modes is decided by the conditions of whether the target is reached and/or within the direction of allowable steering bounds, and whether the robot is surrounded or in a dead lock situation. Distance information for motion planning is acquired using a Scanning Laser Range Finder (URG-04LX). Simulation results of some benchmark scenarios demonstrate performance of the proposed motion planning strategy.