SONAR Based Obstacle Detection and Avoidance Algorithm

Abstract

Autonomous robots are intelligent machines that arecapable of performing desired tasks by themselves, withoutexplicit human control. This paper presents a novel simplealgorithm based on ultrasonic sensors and simple calculationsfor real-time obstacle detection and avoidance that is intendedfor mobile robots. The design is implemented in air usingultrasonic sensors but can be adapted using sonar tounderwater environments where it has important applicationssuch as deep sea maintenance and reconnaissance tasks. Thepaper also presents performance results of a prototypedeveloped to prove the design concept.