Light-Weight Solution for High Speed Obstacle Avoidance

This paper proposes and evaluates a method of autonomous high-speed maneuvering, while simultaneously implementing an obstacle avoidance technique, in an unknown environment. Maneuvering in this context applies to controlling the Ackermann steering angle and speed of a small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (sUGV). The underlying principle applied in this research is a modified version of the ‘Open Path’ algorithm proposed by Wahlde et al., which processes LiDAR point clouds to make steering decisions. The original ’Open Path’ Algorithm was designed for a differential drive robot while the version proposed in this paper modifes that algorithm to fit an Ackermann steering vehicle.