Robust Road-Following Navigation System with a Simple Map

Abstract

This paper presents a novel autonomous navigation system. Our proposed system is based on a simple map (an Edge-Node Graph, which is created from an electronic map). This system consists of “Localization,” which estimates which edge is on the Edge-Node Graph, “Environmental Recognition,” which recognizes the environment around the robot, and “Path Planning,” which avoids objects. Since the robot travels using the Edge-Node Graph, there is no need to prepare an environmental map in advance. In addition, the system is quite robust, since it relies less on prior information. To show the effectiveness of our system, we conducted experiments on each elemental technology as well as some traveling tests.