Ultrasonic sensing and fuzzy logic control for navigation in unknown static environments

In this study a fuzzy logic navigation controller has been designed in order to deal with the uncertainty and ambiguity of the information the system (mobile robot) receives. The technique has been applied to MOBIRO, an experimental mobile robot using a set of seven ultrasonic sensors to perceive its surroundings. The fuzzy control designed maps the input space (information coming from ultrasonic sensors) to a safe collision avoidance trajectory (output Space). This is accomplished by an inference process based on rules (list of IF-THEN statements) taken from a common sense knowledge base. The technique generates satisfactory real time movements of the autonomous vehicle to reach its goal safely. Simulation and experimental results show that the method can be satisfactory used by mobile robots moving on unknown static terrains.