Seeking a path through the crowd: Robot navigation in unknown dynamic environments with moving obstacles based on an integrated environment representation

We present a novel algorithm for collision free navigation of a non-holonomic robot in unknown complex dynamic environments with moving obstacles. Our approach is based on an integrated representation of the information about the environment which does not require to separate obstacles and approximate their shapes by discs or polygons and is very easy to obtain in practice. Moreover, the proposed algorithm does not require any information on the obstacles' velocities. Under our navigation algorithm, the robot efficiently seeks a short path through the crowd of moving or steady obstacles. A mathematically rigorous analysis of the proposed approach is provided. The performance of the algorithm is demonstrated via experiments with a real robot and extensive computer simulations.