Sonar-based navigation experiments on a mobile robot in indoor environments

In this paper, a new behavior-based navigation scheme for a wheeled mobile robot is experimented in unknown indoor environments. The behaviors are designed by fuzzy logic and are controlled by a fuzzy decision maker, which plays a role for selecting an appropriate behavior in accordance with the situation in the vicinity of the mobile robot. Ultrasonic sensors installed at the front face of the mobile robot are used to determine the situation at present instant. In order to update the current position and heading angle of the mobile robot, a new localization method using single rotating sonar mounted on the top of the mobile robot and two cylindrical beacons is used. The performance and effectiveness of the overall system were evaluated on a mobile robot named LCAR and verified through a series of experiments.