PATH TRACKING AND OBSTACLES AVOIDANCE FOR WHEELED MOBILE ROBOT USING FUZZY CONTROLLER

Abstract

Path tracking and obstacle avoidance is the basic necessity for any autonomous wheeled mobile robot. Fuzzy controller path tracking and an obstacle avoidance technique are proposed for the wheeled mobile robot. Path tracking fuzzy controller permits the robot to approach the goal point smoothly when there are no obstacles in the environment. On the other hand, when there are obstacles in the path of the robot detected by a distance sensor, then obstacle avoidance technique will generate a proposed fictitious target point in order to avoid the obstacle. Once the robot succeeds to avoid the obstacle, then the original target point is maintained and the fuzzy controller leads the robot movement along the path to the target. Ultimately, the proposed controller and obstacle avoidance technique guide the robot to the target and at the same time realizes the existence of obstacles, and consequently changes its path to avoid the obstacles and directs itself again to track the target. MATHLAB simulation is used to test and verify the effectiveness of the Fuzzy controller as well as the obstacle avoidance technique. Simulation results showed the effectiveness and simplicity of the proposed controller.