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Safe quadrupedal navigation through unknown environments is a challenging problem. This paper proposes a hierarchical vision-based planning framework (GPF-BG) integrating our previous Global Path Follower (GPF) navigation system and a gap-based local planner using Bézier curves, so called B ézier Gap (BG). This BG-based trajectory synthesis can generate smooth trajectories and guarantee safety for point-mass robots. With a gap analysis extension based on non-point, rectangular geometry, safety is guaranteed for an idealized quadrupedal motion model and significantly improved for an actual quadrupedal robot model. Stabilized perception space improves performance under oscillatory internal body motions that impact sensing. Simulation-based and real experiments under different benchmarking configurations test safe navigation performance. GPF-BG has the best safety outcomes across all experiments.
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This content will become publicly available on December 1, 2025
Safer Gap: Safe Navigation of Planar Nonholonomic Robots With a Gap-Based Local Planner
This paper extends the gap-based navigation technique Potential Gap with safety guarantees at the local planning level for a kinematic planar nonholonomic robot model, leading to Safer Gap . It relies on a subset of navigable free space from the robot to a gap, denoted the keyhole region. The region is defined by the union of the largest collision-free disc centered on the robot and a collision-free trapezoidal region directed through the gap. Safer Gap first generates Bézier-based collision-free paths within the keyhole regions. The keyhole region of the top scoring path is encoded by a shallow neural network-based zeroing barrier function (ZBF) synthesized in real-time. Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) with Keyhole ZBF constraints and output tracking of the Bézier path, synthesizes a safe kinematically feasible trajectory. The Potential Gap projection operator serves as a last action to enforce safety if the NMPC optimization fails to converge to a solution within the prescribed time. Simulation and experimental validation of Safer Gap confirm its collision-free navigation properties.
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- PAR ID:
- 10553378
- Publisher / Repository:
- IEEE
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
- Volume:
- 9
- Issue:
- 12
- ISSN:
- 2377-3774
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 11034 to 11041
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Vision-based navigation collision avoidance reactive and sensor-based planning
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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