APF obstacle avoidance in polar coordinates for mobile robot based on laser radar

In order to improve the safety and the reliability of mobile robot, a method for the path planning and the obstacle avoidance is provided based on distance information that laser radar offers. The method used the improved artificial potential field (APF) and set up the real-time variation polar coordinates, whose centre was the place that the laser radar installed in. In the polar coordinates, the robot-to-obstacle relative distance was measured, the direction and the speed of robot were adjusted to avoid obstacles. The simulation results show that this method based on the distance information that laser radar provides can make mobile robot avoid obstacle reliably.