Title :
Potential Field Navigation of High Speed Unmanned Ground Vehicles on Uneven Terrain
Author :
Shimoda, Shingo ; Kuroda, Yoji ; Iagnemma, Karl
Author_Institution :
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA USA sshimoda@mit.edu
Abstract :
This paper proposes a potential field-based method for high speed navigation of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) on uneven terrain. A potential field is generated in the two-dimensional “trajectory space” of the UGV path curvature and longitudinal velocity. Dynamic constraints, terrain conditions, and navigation conditions can be expressed in this space. A maneuver is chosen within a set of performance bounds, based on the potential field gradient. In contrast to traditional potential field methods, the proposed method is subject to local maximum problems, rather than local minimum. It is shown that a simple randomization technique can be employed to address this problem. Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed method can successfully navigate a UGV between pre-defined waypoints at high speed, while avoiding unknown hazards. Further, vehicle velocity and curvature are controlled to avoid rollover and excessive side slip. The method is computationally efficient, and thus suitable for on-board real-time implementation.
Keywords :
Autonomous control; Potential field; UGVs; Hazards; Land vehicles; Mechanical engineering; Military computing; Mobile robots; Navigation; Path planning; Remotely operated vehicles; Space vehicles; Vehicle dynamics; Autonomous control; Potential field; UGVs;
Conference_Titel :
Robotics and Automation, 2005. ICRA 2005. Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE International Conference on
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-8914-X
DOI :
10.1109/ROBOT.2005.1570542