Integration of Multiple Events in a Topological Autonomous Navigation System

The main purpose of this work is to develop a navigation system that allows a mobile robot to move autonomously in an environment using perceptions of multiple events. A topological navigation system methodology based on events is presented. This methodology imitates human navigation by using sensorimotor abilities and sensorial events, guiding the robot to its final destination. The developed topological system implies an a priori environment representation, the acquisition of perceptions related to events, the planning of a path as a sequence of actions and perceptions between events and the navigation that converts the sequence into real movements supervising the avoidance of unexpected obstacles. The developed architecture enhances the integration of new elements due to its modularity and the decoupling between modules. The innovation of this work resides in the use of an integration interface to handle multiple events concurrently, leading to a more complete and advanced navigation system. Finally, experiments have been carried out in several mobile robots, their results show the feasibility of the navigation system and the integration of the sensorial data managed as events.