Emergency obstacle avoidance module for mobile robots using a laser range finder

This paper describes the development of an emergency obstacle avoidance module for a mobile robot by using a laser range finder. To achieve safe and rapid obstacle avoidance, we apply a subsumption architecture. In the proposed system, the subsumption architecture provides four layers of simple behavior modules such as an emergency obstacle avoidance module and autonomous driving module. Since emergency obstacle avoidance module requires rapid response times, we employ an embedded microcontroller that only processes signals acquired from a laser range finder. When the emergency obstacle avoidance module detects an obstacle, the mobile robot automatically disables the autonomous driving module and executes emergency obstacle avoidance maneuvers. The proposed module is implemented on an actual mobile robot and tested in real-world situations.