Robot Collision Avoidance based on Artificial Potential Field with Local Attractors

This paper presents a novel collision avoidance technique that allows the robot to reach a desired position by avoiding obstacles passing through preferred regions. The method combines the classical elements of the artificial potential fields in an original manner by handling local attractors and repulsors. The exact solution, which is given in a closed form, allows to sculpt a potential field so that local minima related to the local attractors are prevented and the global minimum is unperturbed. The results show the algorithm applied to mobile robot navigation and prove the capability of local attractors to influence the robot path.