Obstacle Avoidance Algorithm for a Network-based Autonomous Mobile Robot

In this paper, an obstacle avoidance algorithm is proposed for a network-based robot considering network delay by distribution. The proposed algorithm is based on the VFH(Vector Field Histogram) algorithm, and for the network-based robot system, in which it is assumed robot localization information is transmitted through network communication. In this paper, target vector for the VFH algorithm is estimated through the robot localization information and the measurement of its delay by distribution. The delay measurement is performed by time-stamp method. To synchronize all local clocks of the nodes distributed on the network, a global clock synchronization method is adopted. With the delay measurement, the robot localization estimation is performed by calculating the kinematics of the robot. The validation of the proposed algorithm is performed through the performance comparison of the obstacle avoidance between the proposed algorithm and the existing VFH algorithm on the network-based autonomous mobile robot.