Autonomous robot motion planning in diverse terrain using soft computing

Optimal motion planning is critical for the successful operation of an autonomous mobile robot. Many proposed approaches use either fuzzy logic or genetic algorithms (GAs), however, most approaches offer only path planning or only trajectory planning, but not both. In addition, few approaches attempt to address the impact of varying terrain conditions on the optimal path. This paper presents a fuzzy-genetic approach that provides both path and trajectory planning, and has the advantage of considering diverse terrain conditions when determining the optimal path. The terrain conditions are modeled using fuzzy linguistic variables to allow for the imprecision and uncertainty of the terrain data. Although a number of methods have been proposed using GAs, few are appropriate for a dynamic environment or provide response in real-time. The method proposed in this paper is robust, allowing the robot to, adapt to dynamic conditions in the environment.