An Automaton and Super-Twisting Sliding-Mode Control for Wall Following

This work proposes an approach for wall following with a differential drive robot in a polygonal environment using laser range finder measurements. We propose an automaton which manages the robot observations and selects the control set-points according to the state in the automaton. We also propose a super-twisting sliding-mode control which rapidly reaches the control set-points. The approach allows the robot to continuously move without the need to stop when obstacles get in the path of the robot. This approach allows the robot to follow the walls fast and robustly. The wall following capability can be used to explore an unknown environment or to find objects in the environment.