A type-2 fuzzy logic controller for autonomous mobile robots

There are many sources of uncertainty facing the fuzzy logic controller (FLC) for autonomous mobile robots navigating in changing and dynamic unstructured environments. The traditional type-1 FLC using precise type-1 fuzzy sets cannot fully handle such uncertainties. A type-2 fuzzy logic controller (FLC) using type-2 fuzzy sets can handle such uncertainties to produce a better performance. In this paper, we present the type-2 FLC and its novel application for the real time control of mobile robots. We used the type-2 FLC to implement different robotic behaviours on different robotic platforms in indoor and outdoor unstructured and challenging environments. The type-2 FLCs dealt with the uncertainties facing mobile robots in unstructured environments and resulted in a very good performance that outperformed the type-1 FLCs whilst using smaller rule bases.