A Fuzzy Based Accessibility Model for Disaster Environment

Robots that perform autonomous maneuvering in a disaster environment usually dont have perfect understanding of the environment in advance. The robot is continuously evaluating the environment as it proceeds, deciding the optimal way to traverse the environment to get to the goal. A critical aspect of this decision is the robot estimate of the terrain accessibility index, which quantifies how easy it is to navigate through the immediate terrain. This paper represents a new method to calculate terrain accessibility index based on obstacle distance to the robots position. In addition, a Fuzzy Inference System Vector Field Histogram (FISVFH) method has been designed for automating the selection of the robots linear and angular velocities in the VFH (Vector Field Histogram) algorithm, based on the calculated sector accessibility index. The proposed method is a two-input and two-output Fuzzy Inference System, where the current robot heading, and sector accessibility index serve as the input, and the corresponding linear and angular velocities to the VFH algorithm are outputs. The VFH, VFH + and FISVFH are tested both in simulation and experimentation in 4 environments that are known to result in failures in VFH and VFH +, for comparison purposes. In addition, the algorithm was verified through experimental setup of a disaster prone environment. In both simulation and experimentation the results show that FISVFH outperforms VFH and VFH +. It is also shown that the FISVFH algorithm is capable of handling the disaster prone environment. Overall, the FISVFH algorithm enables the robot to get to the goal faster and also produces a smoother path while doing so.