Improved boundary following for a mobile robot with limited sensing employing particle filters and path planning

In this paper, we propose a control law for navigating a robot along the boundary of a stationary obstacle, where the only sensor information available is the minimum distance to the obstacle. Using a particle filter, the curvature profile of the obstacle around the observed point is estimated on-line. Safety is ensured by performing local path planning inside an area guaranteed to be safe. The method allows the vehicle´s speed to be adjusted in response to the changing boundary of the obstacle. Simulations confirm the validity of the method.