Experiments with a mobile robot operating in a cluttered unknown environment

A mobile robot has been constructed, and a motion planning methodology for operating in an environment with unknown arbitrary obstacles has been implemented and tested in a complex cluttered environment. The authors address the following implementation issues: the robot´s ability to cope with limited information available from typical sensors while operating in a cluttered environment with unknown obstacles; handling the registration problem, to assess the robot´s current location; performing necessary data processing and planning fast enough to assure acceptable motion speeds; handling situations which require the robot to make loops, retreat, and visit some areas of its path more than once. The results indicated feasibility of practical systems capable of operating in a complex uncertain environment