Mobile Robots Navigation

The presence of mobile robots in diverse scenarios is considerably increasing to perform a variety of tasks. Among them many developments have occurred in the fields of ground underwater and flying robotics. Independent of the environment where they move navigation is a fundamental ability of mobile robots so that they can autonomously complete high-level tasks. This problem can be efficiently addressed through the following actions: First it is necessary to perceive the environment in which the robot has to move and extract some relevant information (mapping problem). Second the robot must be able to estimate its position and orientation within this environment (localization problem). With this information a trajectory toward the target points must be planned (path planning) and the vehicle must be reactively guided along this trajectory considering either possible changes or interactions with the environment or with the user (control). Given this information this book introduces current frameworks in these fields (mapping localization path planning and control) and in general approaches to any problem related to the navigation of mobile robots such as odometry exploration obstacle avoidance and simulation.