The Agoraphilic Navigation Algorithm under Dynamic Environment with a Moving Goal

Abstract

This paper presents a research conducted in developing a new navigation algorithm to navigate robots under dynamically cluttered environments with a moving goal. There are only a few navigation algorithms capable of navigating robots under dynamic environments compared to static environments. The inability to track and reach a moving goal/target is a one of the common weakness of existing navigating algorithms operating in dynamic environments. The existing free space attraction (Agoraphilic) based navigation algorithms also suffer from this common problem. The proposed algorithm, in this paper was developed to overcome this issue. Agoraphilic Navigation Algorithm under Dynamic Environment, “ANADE” consists of eight main modules. These modules are iteratively used to create the robot's driving force which pulls the robot towards the moving goal. An obstacle tracking module is used to identify the time varying free spaces by tracking moving obstacles. Furthermore, a tracking system is also used to track the moving goal. The capacity of the ANADE was further strengthen by obstacle and goal path prediction modules. Future location prediction allowed the algorithm to make decision considering future environments around the robot. The proposed algorithm was tested under dynamic environment. These tests were focused on testing the behavior of the algorithm under the challenge of reaching a moving goal. Furthermore, the test results demonstrate that ANADE is successful in reaching a moving goal under an unknown dynamically cluttered environment.