Reflective force navigation control for a mobile robot using a state transition diagram

In this paper, we develop an obstacle avoidance approach for a nonautonomous mobile robot. It consists of an obstacle-modeling method by ultrasonic sensors and an obstacle avoidance method by reflective forces. The modeling method obtains obstacle model parameters considering the inherent limitations of ultrasonic sensors. Using these parameters, we implement a fuzzy logic controller for wall and center following. Then we generate reflective forces for a user to control the robot according to the controller using a force feedback joystick. That is, the operator fells reflective forces for wall and center following. To generate the reflective forces, we define a state transition diagram considering user's inputs and robot states. Consequently the operator can maneuver the robot with obstacle avoidance. Simulation results show the validity of the proposed technique.