Variable speed robot navigation by an ACO approach

Abstract

A variable-speed-based navigation and map building method of an autonomous mobile robot is developed in this paper in cooperation with an ant colony optimization algorithm (ACO). In real-world applications, an autonomous mobile robot is expected to operate at variable speed. It should slow down in vicinity of obstacles, whereas moving at high speed in open areas. A LIDAR-based local navigator algorithm integrated with a variable speed module is implemented for local navigation and obstacle avoidance. A variable speed navigation paradigm is developed in integration with the ACO algorithm to dynamically adapt its speed to the environment scenarios. In addition to the variable speed ACO based navigation, grid-based map representations are imposed for real-time autonomous robot navigation. Simulation and comparison studies demonstrate effectiveness of the proposed real-time variable-speed-based ACO approach of an autonomous mobile robot.