Approach for Obstacle Avoidance Fuzzy Logic Control of an Elderly-assistant and Walking-assistant Robot Using Ultrasonic Sensors

This paper develops a fuzzy obstacle avoidance system for an elderly-assistant and walking-assistant robot (EWR) using two ultrasonic sensors mounted at the front of the robot. The control architecture for a behavior-based EWR is implemented in this paper. The robot uses a reactive strategy determined by sensory information to interact with an unknown environment. The EWR uses tactile force to convey the user's intended motion action to the robot via man-machine interaction. For user's safety and avoidance of collision, autonomous obstacle avoidance are increasingly used in unfamiliar environments. For the EWR navigation in unpredictable environment, fuzzy behavior capable of making inferences is more appropriate. Equipped with ultrasonic sensors, a rule-based fuzzy controller with reactive behavior was implemented and tested on the EWR to perform collision-free navigation. From the simulation and experimental results obtained, it can be inferred that the proposed architecture provides an efficient and flexible solution for the EWR obstacle avoidance.