Integrated path control for autonomous systems based on an artificial potential field and sliding mode control

Abstract

This paper introduces a new integrated path control strategy (combined path planning and motion control) for autonomous systems of arbitrary dimension. A harmonic artificial potential field is used to specify admissible trajectories leading around obstacles. Using a sliding mode controller, motion is generated along the gradient lines of the potential field, avoiding collisions with the obstacles. The computational complexity of the proposed method is extremely low, which makes it very suitable for on-line applications.The mthodology is applied to mobile robots moving amidst known obstacles. Although at most two obstacles are considered at each time instance, the goal point is approached continuously, following to a reasonably short path. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the utility of this new strategy.