Fuzzy Logic Wall Following of a Mobile Robot Based on the Concept of General Perception

Abstract

This paper presents a new approach to the wall following problem of a mobile robot. Local path planning is based on a so-called concept of general perception, which means that the robot is guided by a representation of its perception only. No map of the environment is used and walls and obstacles are not modelled either. A fuzzy controller then uses the information provided by the concept of general perception to guide the robot along walls of arbitrary shape and around obstacles which are treated as part of a wall, unless the distance between obstacle and wall allows a safe passage. This paper first introduces the concept of general perception and then explains the fuzzy controller in detail. All membership functions and the complete rule base are provided. The concept of general perception together with the fuzzy controller were tested on a real robot performing wall following and obstacle avoidance missions and some of the ensuing experimental results are presented at the end of the paper.