Behavior-based control applied to underwater vehicles to achieve local goals

This paper primarily deals with behavior-based control strategy for an autonomous agent to achieve local goal while tracking a desired path/trajectory. The behavior-based control approach addresses multiple control frameworks, which are switched depending on the circumstances, instead of using a uniform control framework. The need to pursue local goals may arise while an autonomous agent e.g., an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) follows its path. There is a need to design controllers that would take the AUV to the desired local goal and subsequently allow the AUV to track its original desired path. Rather than using single controller, behavior based controllers are used to achieve the desired tasks utilizing parametric curves for trajectory generation. The new approach seems to be very appropriate for controlling the mobile robotic systems under the varied circumstances. Preliminary results are obtained through a simplified model of autonomous vehicle and presented. Demonstrations of achieving local goals while following circular and lawn-mower paths are presented.