A biomimetic mechanism for collision avoidance by coordinating normal and tangent orientations

Autonomous navigation of a mobile robot is formalized as a functional optimization problem, which makes it possible to coordinate the basic tasks of a mobile robot: obstacle avoidance, sensory source search and evasion, and goal reaching. The proposed method is a generalization of the well-known artificial potential field (APF) theory. More specifically, the method allows to combine the usual normal forces with tangential forces, giving way to much more efficient trajectories. Genetic algorithms are applied for the optimization of the dynamic coordination of the multiple and competitive navigation objectives