Sensor-based exploration for planar two-identical-link robots

Abstract

We present a new roadmap based on a generalized Voronoi graph for two-identical-link mobile robots to explore an unknown planar environment. It is called the L2-generalized Voronoi graph and is defined in terms of workspace distance measurements using only sensor-provided information, with the robot having the maximum distance from obstacles, and is therefore optimum in a point of view for exploration and obstacle avoidance. The configuration of the robot possesses four degrees of freedom, and hence the roadmap is one-dimensional in an unknown configuration space [Formula: see text]. The L2-generalized Voronoi graph is not always connected, and so is connected with an additional structure called the L2R-edge, where the robot is tangent to a GVD structure with the same orientation for the two links. This roadmap is termed L2 hierarchical generalized Voronoi graph. The L2 hierarchical generalized Voronoi graph includes two structures: the L2 hierarchical generalized Voronoi graph and the L2R edge. Although the condition of two identical links looks somewhat constraining, the L2 hierarchical generalized Voronoi graph is still worth pursuing because the case is very common in the engineering environment.