A hybrid feedback controller for car-like robots – combining reactive obstacle avoidance and global replanning

Abstract

This paper presents a hybrid feedback controller for path control of autonomous mobile robots. The controller combines reactive obstacle avoidance with global path replanning, enabling collision-free navigation along a preplanned path. Avoidance of local obstacles is accomplished by reactively adjusting the vehicle's lateral deviation from the path trajectory. Global path replanning is performed to circumvent obstacles which cannot be avoided locally. In contrast to common approaches, this is done by searching the shortest feasible path returning to the initial trajectory beyond the obstacle. Following the description of the hybrid feedback controller, experimental results with speeds of up to 4 m/s will demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach.