A BEAM-Inspired Lyapunov-Based Strategy for Obstacle Avoidance and Target-Seeking

Abstract

We consider a hypothetical dimensionless robot operating in an unknown, obstacle-ridden planar environment. The robot is capable of rotational and translational motion, and is equipped with a limited sensor suite that includes a single short-range monocular obstacle sensor and finite-range target sensor. A purely analog robotic motion control scheme is developed for obstacle avoidance and target-seeking using an innovative dynamical systems architecture that incorporates a nonlinear controller derived using Lyapunov techniques. A possible application is in the control of extremely lightweight autonomous machines in the style of Braitenberg vehicles or Tilden's BEAM robots. Simulations and animations (available at the URL indicated in the Simulations Section) are provided.