Sonar-Based Wall-Following Control of Mobile Robots

Abstract

In this paper, the wall-following problem for low-velocity mobile robots, equipped with incremental encoders and one sonar sensor, is considered. A robust observer-based controller, which takes into account explicit constraints on the orientation of the sonar sensor with respect to the wall and the velocity of the wheels, is designed. The feedback controller provides convergence and fulfillment of the constraints, once an estimate of the position of the mobile robot, is available. Such an estimate is given by an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), which is designed via a sensor fusion approach merging the velocity signals from the encoders and the distance measurements from the sonar. Some experimental tests are reported to discuss the robustness of the control scheme. [S0022-0434(00)01101-1]