GA-based Optimisation of a LiDAR Feedback Autonomous Mobile Robot Navigation System

Autonomous mobile robots require an efficient navigation system in order to navigate from one location to another location fast and safe without hitting static or dynamic obstacles. A light-detection-and-ranging (LiDAR) based autonomous robot navigation is a multi-component navigation system consists of various parameters to be configured. With such structure and sometimes involving conflicting parameters, the process of determining the best configuration for the system is a non-trivial task. This work presents an optimisation method using Genetic algorithm (GA) to configure such navigation system with tuned parameters automatically. The proposed method can optimise parameters of a few components in a navigation system concurrently. The representation of chromosome and fitness function of GA for this specific robotic problem are discussed. The experimental results from simulation and real hardware show that the optimised navigation system outperforms a manually-tuned navigation system of an indoor mobile robot in terms of navigation time

A Survey on Obstacles Avoidance Mobile Robot in Static Unknown Environment

Autonomous mobile robots have in recent times gained interest from many researchers. This is due to wide range of mobile robot application. Numerous robots especially in navigation, obstacle avoidance and path following are currently under development. A reliable collision avoidance methodology is needed for effective navigation. Normally robots are fitted with transducers such as ultrasonic sensors, infrared and cameras for detecting environment. Various methods have been established in the past years to resolve navigational problems associated with mobile robots. They include fuzzy logic, potential fields, genetic algorithm, neural network and vision base approaches. Fuzzy logic demonstrates to be an appropriate tool for handling uncertainty that emerge from imprecise knowledge during route finding

Exploratory Path Planning Using the Max-Min Ant System Algorithm

In the path planning problem for autonomous mobile robots, robots have to plan their path from the start position to the goal. In this paper, we investigate the application of the MMAS algorithm to the exploratory path planning problem, in which the robots should explore the environment at the same time they plan the path. Max-min ant system is an ant colony optimization algorithm that exploits the best solutions found. In addition, to analyze the quality of solutions obtained, we also analyze the traveled distance spent by robots in the first iteration of the algorithm. The environment is previously unknown to the robots, although it is represented by a topological map, that does not require precise information from the environment and provides a simple way to execute the navigation of the path. Thus, the paths are represented by a sequence of actions that the robots should execute to reach the goal. The navigation of the best solution found was implemented in a realistic robotic simulator. The proposed algorithm provides a very good performance in relation to a genetic algorithm and the well-known A* algorithm that deal with this problem

An enhanced classifier system for autonomous robot navigation in dynamic environments

In many cases, a real robot application requires the navigation in dynamic environments. The navigation problem involves two main tasks: to avoid obstacles and to reach a goal. Generally, this problem could be faced considering reactions and sequences of actions. For solving the navigation problem a complete controller, including actions and reactions, is needed. Machine learning techniques has been applied to learn these controllers. Classifier Systems (CS) have proven their ability of continuos learning in these domains. However, CS have some problems in reactive systems. In this paper, a modified CS is proposed to overcome these problems. Two special mechanisms are included in the developed CS to allow the learning of both reactions and sequences of actions. The learning process has been divided in two main tasks: first, the discrimination between a predefined set of rules and second, the discovery of new rules to obtain a successful operation in dynamic environments. Different experiments have been carried out using a mini-robot Khepera to find a generalised solution. The results show the ability of the system to continuous learning and adaptation to new situations.Publicad

Adaptive neuro-fuzzy technique for autonomous ground vehicle navigation

This article proposes an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) for solving navigation problems of an autonomous ground vehicle (AGV). The system consists of four ANFIS controllers; two of which are used for regulating both the left and right angular velocities of the AGV in order to reach the target position; and other two ANFIS controllers are used for optimal heading adjustment in order to avoid obstacles. The two velocity controllers receive three sensor inputs: front distance (FD); right distance (RD) and left distance (LD) for the low-level motion control. Two heading controllers deploy the angle difference (AD) between the heading of AGV and the angle to the target to choose the optimal direction. The simulation experiments have been carried out under two different scenarios to investigate the feasibility of the proposed ANFIS technique. The simulation results have been presented using MATLAB software package; showing that ANFIS is capable of performing the navigation and path planning task safely and efficiently in a workspace populated with static obstacles

A general learning co-evolution method to generalize autonomous robot navigation behavior

Congress on Evolutionary Computation. La Jolla, CA, 16-19 July 2000.A new coevolutive method, called Uniform Coevolution, is introduced, to learn weights for a neural network controller in autonomous robots. An evolutionary strategy is used to learn high-performance reactive behavior for navigation and collision avoidance. The coevolutive method allows the evolution of the environment, to learn a general behavior able to solve the problem in different environments. Using a traditional evolutionary strategy method without coevolution, the learning process obtains a specialized behavior. All the behaviors obtained, with or without coevolution have been tested in a set of environments and the capability for generalization has been shown for each learned behavior. A simulator based on the mini-robot Khepera has been used to learn each behavior. The results show that Uniform Coevolution obtains better generalized solutions to example-based problems

Highly efficient Localisation utilising Weightless neural systems

Efficient localisation is a highly desirable property for an autonomous navigation system. Weightless neural networks offer a real-time approach to robotics applications by reducing hardware and software requirements for pattern recognition techniques. Such networks offer the potential for objects, structures, routes and locations to be easily identified and maps constructed from fused limited sensor data as information becomes available. We show that in the absence of concise and complex information, localisation can be obtained using simple algorithms from data with inherent uncertainties using a combination of Genetic Algorithm techniques applied to a Weightless Neural Architecture

Neural network controller against environment: A coevolutive approach to generalize robot navigation behavior

In this paper, a new coevolutive method, called Uniform Coevolution, is introduced to learn weights of a neural network controller in autonomous robots. An evolutionary strategy is used to learn high-performance reactive behavior for navigation and collisions avoidance. The introduction of coevolutive over evolutionary strategies allows evolving the environment, to learn a general behavior able to solve the problem in different environments. Using a traditional evolutionary strategy method, without coevolution, the learning process obtains a specialized behavior. All the behaviors obtained, with/without coevolution have been tested in a set of environments and the capability of generalization is shown for each learned behavior. A simulator based on a mini-robot Khepera has been used to learn each behavior. The results show that Uniform Coevolution obtains better generalized solutions to examples-based problems.Publicad