A study on obstacle avoidance of mobile robot

Abstract

We present a new technique to autonomous navigation based on ultrasonic sensors for mobile robots travelling through the narrow aisle that leave only a few centimeters on each side between the guides and the robot. In our current implementation the ultrasonic sensor system fires at a rate of 100 ms, that is, each of the 8 sensors fires once during each 100 ms interval. This is a very fast firing rate, implemented here for optimal performance. This paper presents an extensively tested and verified solution to the problem. Our solution is based on the optimal placement of ultrasonic sensors at strategic locations around the robot. Both the sensor location and the associated navigation algorithm are defined in such a way that only the accurate radial sonar data is used for servoing.