Employing Fuzzy Logic for Navigation and Control in an Autonomous Mobile System

The Space Exploration Initiative of the United States of America includes plans for unmanned missions to Mars to investigate and examine the terrain and soil samples for a future manned mission. In particular, uncharted obstacles may interfere with the maneuvering of the system. It will be nearly impossible to control the system using radio hookups, as the delays are extensive, and therefore an intelligent autonomous system is necessary. Due to inherent uncertainties in the problem and the wish to design a system that uses intuitive approaches to navigation problems, we have chosen to explore the use of fuzzy logic in autonomous mobile vehicles.