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This thesis presents an investigation into the problems of exploration, map building and collision free navigation for intelligent autonomous mobile robots. The project began with an extensive review of currently available literature in the field of mobile robot research, which included intelligent control techniques and their application. It became clear that there was scope for further development with regard to map building and exploration in new and unstructured environments. Animals have an innate propensity to exhibit such abilities, and so the analogous use of artificial neural networks instead of actual neural systems was examined for use as a method of robot mapping. A simulated behaviour based mobile robot was used in conjunction with a growing cell structure neural network to map out new environments. When using the direct application of this algorithm, topological irregularities were observed to be the direct result of correlations within the input data stream. A modification to this basic system was shown to correct the problem, but further developments would be required to produce a generic solution. The mapping algorithms gained through this approach, although more similar to biological systems, are computationally inefficient in comparison to the methods which were subsequently developed. A novel mapping method was proposed based on the robot creating new location vectors, or nodes, when it exceeded a distance threshold from its mapped area. Network parameters were developed to monitor the state of growth of the network and aid the robot search process. In simulation, the combination of the novel mapping and search process were shown to be able to construct maps which could be subsequently used for collision free navigation. To develop greater insights into the control problem and to validate the simulation work the control structures were ported to a prototype mobile robot. The mobile robot was of circular construction, with a synchro-drive wheel configuration, and was equipped with eight ultrasonic distance sensors and an odometric positioning system. It was self-sufficient, incorporating all its power and computational resources. The experiments observed the effects of odometric drift and demonstrated methods of re-correction which were shown to be effective. Both the novel mapping method, and a new algorithm based on an exhaustive mesh search, were shown to be able to explore different environments and subsequently achieve collision free navigation. This was shown in all cases by monitoring the estimates in the positional error which remained within fixed bounds.

An efficient algorithm which finds collision free paths for a manipulator with 5 or 6 revolute joints is described. It solves the problem for four degree of freedom pick and place operations. Examples are given of paths found by the algorithm in tightly cluttered workspaces. The algorithm first describes free space in two ways: as freeways for the hand and payload ensemble and as freeways for the upperarm. Freeways match volumes swept out by manipulator motions and can be "inverted" to find a class of topologically equivalent path segments. The two freeway spaces are searched concurrently under projection of constraints determined by motion of the forearm.

A hierarchical representation for configuration space is presented, along with an algorithm for searching that space for collision-free paths. The detail of the algorithm are presented for polygonal obstacles and a moving object with two translational and one rotational degrees of freedom.

This paper deals with the class of problems that involve finding where to place or how to move a solid object in the presence of obstacles. The solution to this class of problems is essential to the automatic planning of manipulator transfer movements, i.e. the motions to grasp a part and place it at some destination. This paper presents algorithms for planning manipulator paths that avoid collisions with objects in the workspace and for choosing safe grasp points on objects. These algorithms allow planning transfer movements for Cartesian manipulators. The approach is based on a method of computing an explicit representation of the manipulator configurations that would bring about a collision.

ISO 26262 is a functional safety standard under development at the time of this thesis. It is an adaptation of the functional safety standard IEC 61508, aimed at development of automotive electrical/electronic systems. The version of ISO-26262 that was used and discussed in this thesis is the final draft released in January 2011. In this thesis, a subset of ISO-26262 is applied in the development of a safety critical driver assistance system for a Scania vehicle. The parts of ISO-26262 that are treated are Part 3: Concept phase, Part 4: Product development at the system level and Part 5: Product development at the hardware level. Throughout the thesis we evaluate ISO-26262 and report our experience of working with it. The driver assistance system under development, which ISO-26262 is applied to, is Collision Avoidance by Steering, a system that aims to avoid or mitigate rear-end collisions with vehicles in front by automatic steering of the vehicle.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006. / Ute Fischer, Committee Member ; Jerry R. Duncan, Committee Member ; Gregory Corso, Committee Member ; Wendy A. Rogers, Committee Member ; Arthur D. Fisk, Committee Chair.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This thesis discusses occupancy grid map, collision avoidance system and belief theory, and propose some of the latest and the most effective method such as predictive occupancy grid map, risk evaluation model and OGM role in the belief function theory with the approach of decision uncertainty according to the environment perception with the degree of belief in the driving command acceptability. Finally, how the proposed models mitigate or prevent the occurrence of the collision.