Local maneuvers planning: application to an autonomous wheelchair moving in constrained spaces

The problem approached in this paper is the simulation of maneuvers plannin g for an autonomous mobile robot moving in constrained spaces free of obsta cles. The robot treated is an autonomous wheelchair for the disabled. Our a pproach is based on the principle that a maneuver is the concatenation of e lementary moves with reversal. So, to perform a maneuver that enables reach ing a final state, we have defined five elementary moves. The developed pla nner is built around a perception system, a guidance system and a locomotio n system. Each elementary move is implemented using a fuzzy controller.