Fuzzy navigation strategy: application to two distinct autonomous mobile robots

Most motion controls of mobile robots are based on the classical scheme of planning-navigation-piloting. The navigation function, the main part of which consists in obstacle avoidance, has to react with the shortest response time. The real-time constraint hardly limits the complexity of sensor data processing. The described navigator is built around fuzzy logic controllers. Besides the well-known possibility of taking into account human know-how, the approach provides several contributions: a low sensitivity to erroneous or inaccurate measures and, if the inputs of the controllers are normalised, an effective portability on various platform. To show these advantages, the same fuzzy navigator has been implemented on two mobile robots. Their mechanical structures are close, except for size and the sensing system.