Movement Control of Accompanying Robot Based on Artificial Potential Field Adapted to Dynamic Environments

SUMMARY This paper focuses on mobile robots that can accompany a person, that is, it addresses how to control the position of the robot relative to the accompanied person according to the dynamic environment. The robot is expected to move side by side with the person in a normal situation, but a position in front or behind the person might be better if there are obstacles. The shape of the artificial potential field of the accompanied person is devised to smoothly control the robot position in a unified way. The Laplace potential method is also used subsidiarily to cope with extremely cluttered environments. Simulations and experiments in real space show the usefulness of the proposed method.