Path Planning for an Intelligent Robot Using Flow Networks

Abstract

Many intelligent robots have to be given environmental information to perform tasks. In this paper an intelligent robot, that is, a cleaning robot used a sensor fusing method of two sensors: LRF and StarGazer, and then was able to obtain the information. Throughout wall following using laser displacement sensor, LRF, the working area is built during the robot turn one cycle around the area. After the process of wall following, a path planning which is able to execute the work effectively is established using flow network algorithm. This paper describes an algorithm for minimal turning complete coverage path planning for intelligent robots. This algorithm divides the whole working area by cellular decomposition, and then provides the path planning among the cells employing flow networks. It also provides specific path planning inside each cell guaranteeing the minimal turning of the robots. The proposed algorithm is applied to two different working areas, and verified that it is an optimal path planning method.