Sensor-based trajectory planning strategy for non-holonomic mobile robot with laser range sensors

This paper presents a trajectory planning strategy of a four-wheeled mobile robot in an obstructed environment. Two 2-dimensional laser ranger finders are equipped on the mobile robot in order to perform sensor-based planning without any a priori knowledge about its environment. The potential field method is utilized to create force fields around obstacles and a goal. Look-ahead control is adopted to steer the mobile robot in which a reference point located in front of the robot is dynamically changed such that the mobile robot is able to successfully maneuver among the obstacles and reach the goal. The proposed algorithm for obstacle definition enables the mobile robot to perform autonomous navigation task under environments where different heights and shapes of unknown obstacles exist.