Terrain-based robot navigation using multi-scale traversability indices

The concepts of local, regional, and global traversability indices have been introduced by the author (1999, 2000, 2001). These indices represent the suitability of a terrain for traversal by a mobile robot at different scales of resolution. This paper utilizes these indices to develop a navigation strategy for a mobile robot traversing a challenging terrain. The traversability indices form the basis of three navigational behaviors; namely, traverse-local, traverse-regional, and traverse-global behaviors. These behaviors are blended with the seek-goal behavior to ensure that the mobile robot reaches the goal safety while avoiding obstacles and impassable terrain segments. The paper is concluded by an illustrative graphical simulation study.