Avoiding Dense and Dynamic Obstacles in Enclosed Spaces: Application to Moving in Crowds
Name
Avoiding_Dense_and_Dynamic_Obstacles_in_Enclosed_Spaces_Application_to_Moving_in_Crowds.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
7.01 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
8e41b56db5d0cfef89ed4a686742d255
Author(s)
Huber, Lukas
Slotine, Jean-Jacques
Billard, Aude
Date Issued
October 2022
Journal
IEEE Transactions on Robotics
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Citation
L. Huber, J. -J. Slotine and A. Billard, "Avoiding Dense and Dynamic Obstacles in Enclosed Spaces: Application to Moving in Crowds," in IEEE Transactions on Robotics, vol. 38, no. 5, pp. 3113-3132, Oct. 2022.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
This article presents a closed-form approach to constraining a flow within a given volume and around objects. The flow is guaranteed to converge and to stop at a single fixed point. The obstacle avoidance problem is inverted to enforce that the flow remains enclosed within a volume defined by a polygonal surface. We formally guarantee that such a flow will never contact the boundaries of the enclosing volume or obstacles. It asymptotically converges toward an attractor. We further create smooth motion fields around obstacles with edges (e.g., tables). Both obstacles and enclosures may be time-varying, i.e., moving, expanding, and shrinking. The technique enables a robot to navigate within enclosed corridors while avoiding static and moving obstacles. It was applied on an autonomous robot (QOLO) in a static complex indoor environment and tested in simulations with dense crowds. The final proof of concept was performed in an outdoor environment in Lausanne. The QOLO-robot successfully traversed a marketplace in the center of town in the presence of a diverse crowd with a nonuniform motion pattern.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Nonlinear Systems Laboratory
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1109/tro.2022.3164789
