Navigation of mobile robots in the presence of obstacles

Robot navigation is one of the basic problems in robotics. In general, the robot navigation algorithms are classified as global or local, depending on surrounding environment. In global navigation, the environment surrounding the robot is known and the path which avoids the obstacle is selected. In local navigation, the environment surrounding the robot is unknown, and sensors are used to detect the obstacles and avoid collision. In the past, a number of algorithms have been designed by many researchers for robot navigation problems. This paper presents software simulation of navigation problems of a mobile robot avoiding obstacles in a static environment using both classical and fuzzy based algorithms. The simulation environment is a menu-driven one where one can draw obstacles of standard shapes and sizes and assign the starting and ending points of the mobile robot. The robot will then navigate among these obstacles without hitting them and reach the specified goal point.