A snake-based scheme for path planning and control with constraints by distributed visual sensors. Issue 4 (July 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cheng, Y.; Jiang, P.; Hu, Y. F.
• Is Part Of: Robotica. Volume 32:Issue 4(2014)
• Page Start: 477
• Page End: 499
• Publication Date: 2014-07
• Subjects: Robots -- Periodicals; 629.89205
• DOI: 10.1017/S0263574713000805
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0263-5747

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="normal"> <title>SUMMARY</title> <p>This paper proposes a robot navigation scheme using wireless visual sensors deployed in an environment. Different from the conventional autonomous robot approaches, the scheme intends to relieve massive on-board information processing required by a robot to its environment so that a robot or a vehicle with less intelligence can exhibit sophisticated mobility. A three-state snake mechanism is developed for coordinating a series of sensors to form a reference path. Wireless visual sensors communicate internal forces with each other along the reference snake for dynamic adjustment, react to repulsive forces from obstacles, and activate a state change in the snake body from a flexible state to a rigid or even to a broken state due to kinematic or environmental constraints. A control snake is further proposed as a tracker of the reference path, taking into account the robot's non-holonomic constraint and limited steering power. A predictive control algorithm is developed to have an optimal velocity profile under robot dynamic constraints for the snake tracking. They together form a unified solution for robot navigation by distributed sensors to deal with the kinematic and dynamic constraints of a robot and to react to dynamic changes in advance. Simulations and experiments demonstrate the capability of a wireless sensor network to carry out low-level control activities for a vehicle.</p> </abstract>