Design of Path Planning and Obstacle Avoidance for a Wheeled Mobile Robot

This paper proposed a path tracking method for wheeled mobile robot (WMR). This method includes path planning and controller design. In path planning, using B-spline instead of A* algorithm to create smooth and obstacle-avoidance path, so that the possibility of collision can be reduced statistically. In controller design, genetic algorithm (GA) and fuzzy logic control (FLC) are combined together for the velocity control for WMR, which is supposed to move in a certain environment. The suitable membership function of FLC according to the feature of environment, such as distance and angle of WMR, is based on the B-spline path, and the input and output of FLC can be adjusted by GA. Therefore, the WMR can move along the planned path steady, which means our method has good performance.