非ホロノミック移動体の形状を考慮した実用的な障害物回避

- ポテンシャル法の長方形車体への適用 -

抄録

A fast obstacle avoidance algorithm based on sensor data is required for an autonomous vehicle to move at high speed. When a vehicle is nonholonomic and it has polygonal body, the method using configuration space is usually applied to such a vehicle. But, it is complex and it needs much computing power. On the other hand, artificial potential field is often used for real-time obstacle avoidance, however, most of them consider a vehicle as an omnidirectional movable point.
Therefore, we propose a new method of practical obstacle avoidance for a nonholonomic vehicle with rectangular body. Application points of repulsive forces from obstacles are located in both the front and rear of vehicle's body. Their forces are generated according to the distances between obstacle and vehicle's body. Rear forces are transferred to the front by inverting and the resultant force moves the vehicle. This idea is very simple and its effectiveness has been shown by simulation.