Proceedingsof the 1999 IEEYRsJ

International Conference on
IntelligentRobots and Systems

Improvement of Convergence to Goal for Wheeled Mobile Robot

Using Parking Motion
Hiroshi AN

Takainitsu YOSHINO. Daisuke KASHIMOTO.

Minoru OKUBO. Yoshiyuki SAKAI.
Tomosaburou HAMAMOTO
Osaka Electro-Commuiiicatioii University (OECU)
Division of Mecllanical aiid Control Engineering
18-8 Hatsu-cho. Neyigawa. OSAKA 572-8530. JAPAN

Osaka Electro-Comiiiunicatioii Uni\.ersity (OECU)

Yaculty of Eiigiiiecriiig
18-8 Halsu-cho. Neyagalsa. OSAKA 572-X5.30.JAPAN

t,he running can c:oml)ensat,e.

Furthermore. we tieveloped the new simulation
of running ivit,h parking motion. and it. \\:IS
verified that. t.his algorithm was effective. . h t l
t.hen, it, was at.t.empt,etlt,o verify t,his algorithm by
running t,he mobile robot. called a nonholonomic
robot. in an uncertain worlcl.

1 Intmdu&on
Several 1iat.h-planning algorit.hms t.hat direct. a
mobile robot t,o a goal while avoiding obst.acles in
an unknown world have been Iiroposed[*l- - '1.
However. no 1)at.h-planning algorithm has yet, been
developed to let. arrived at. t.he goal an aut.onomous
mobile robot. called the nonholonomic robot. t.hat.
can not move to omnidirection. So. we have been
tleveloped. on-line pat,h-planning algorit.hm based
on visual feed back that. direct,s a nonholonomic
robot t.o a goal while avoiding obstacle in unknown
3-D tvorld". This path-planning algorit.hm has
been verified t.haf the robot. analyzes the world
topology. and consequently arrives in t.he neighbor
of. the goal n.it,h a slight. self-position error in a
previously unknou-n area autonomously by any
simulations and running esperimen t,s.
In this algorit.hm. a problem is occurred t,hat.
the coiwergence 1 0 ii goal increases due tu R
running for i l wrong nest. goal point,. As t,he reason.
the robot has i l h a d y a self-position error when it.
starts t o nest, point from t.he arril-ed point.
'Ib sol\,(! t.he problem. we propose t.he running
algorithm using tho parking motion. which can be
csl)ccietl to improve the convergence to a goal.
I hcrdi)rc. w e tievclopcti a new algorit.hm called
(tic? I)ijrking motion. It. can be recognized the
xilriig(>\sifh il \~isuiiIsensor. and t h e n f.he robot. c a n

.,

I)(> go i n l o t.hc giiriige

w i n g t h c ? parking mO1.ion.
liy t h i s mot.ion, i h v r i i u s c d w r o r of' sc?ll'-l)osii.ionin

0-7803-5184-3/99/$10.00 0 1999 IEEE

1693

Definiticazdon-hepad-planningalgonthm

.4s shown in Fig. 1. the t.arget of this research is

t,he nonholonomic mobile robot. that. can not. move
t.o omnidirect,ion and has a restricted field of view.
We developed pabh-planning algorithm t.hat. t.he
robot. analyzes t.he world t.opology with t,he hell) of
the self-position and some special figure of the
following obstacle. and consequently arrives a t the
goal without. coming into contact. any obstacles in a
previously unknown area aut,onomously.Th e
mobile robot. mounts a visual sensor (CCD camera)
w1it.h a rest,rict,ed field of view. As shown in Fig.2.
t,he autonomous mobile robot. recognizes no more
t.han a rest.rict.ed field of it,s t,oward. Ancl. the
visual field of the visual sensor includes three
areas. One is t.he forbidden ,region for stopping the
robot, when an obst,acle boundary is recognized in
it,s region. The second area is t.he existence region
of an obst,acle S2 and S,?moving forward while the
obstacle boundary esist,s into it,s region. The third
area is t,he region called T. which is used t,o catch
in t,he view. filed the garage on t.he searching t.he
parking mot,ion.

Fig2 Mobile robot and View freld

running and turn running. t,hen the robot. may or

may nob go to the goal point.. Therefore. t.he mobile
robot. recognizes the obstacle boundary and move
along it, in the clockwise or counter-clockwise. The
avoidance mode change over the straight. mode.
then it.'s called the conclusion of separat.ion if t.he
conhtion of separation from the obstacle is valid.
to robot. run to the goal in a stmight line.
We developed a running algorithm of parking
motion by improving straight. running to the goal
in a old algorit.hm. The garage used in t,his
esperiment. is the shape of " U . and its side i s
perpendicular to the floor. And, edges in t.hc
entrance of garage are called the edge "A" and
edge "D".

-4s this robot, is cont.rolled by a parallel

processor called a transputer, it. can be performed
some grogram types of t.he <list.ribut,edprocessing.
The mobile robot. ciln be performed t,wo running
motion: one is motion revolving t.wo wheels with
the same velocit,y' and the same direction called a
straight, running. and t.he other is revolving two
wheels 1vit.h t.he same ve1ocit.y and the different.
tlircct:ion called A spin running. As shown in Fig.3,
t.hen t.he running algorithm w i i s const.ruct,ecl by
three modes: the st,raight. mode, spin mode and
avoidiince mode.

Fig.4 Garage existelice arca

Fig.3 Esample of running pat.t.ern

As shown. in Fig.4. the existence areti of tha

gilrtlge is intlicat.ed by the inner part. of t.ho cir(:ulittlocus. which is. drew by the point. Ps on tho Icx:aI
coortlini1t.e rotating (.he robot on (.he ccntcr ol'
garage. It's called the garage esistmcc! iiroil ilntl
the mobile robot ciln be arrived this ilreil oven il'
the self-position inference error caused. Morcwvor.
it. is defined t,hat some obst.aclo doesn't. mist in il
view field when the robot run t.o spin in t.hn cit-clo
on esistence region.
The mobile robot. can goes into t.he g:lrilgP whilo
recognizing a r e h i v e posit,ion to giiragc en t.ranco
using vision recognition met.hotl by il visui11sonsor.

<Straight mode>
This mode is defined for mot.ion t,h& t,he mobile
robot, run t,o goal point. by the straight. running,
while the obstacle is not recognized in the
forbitltlen region S; by CCD sensor.
<Avoidance mode>

A visual sensor recognizes the obstacle in t,he

forbidden region S , or S2 of a visual field. then the
mobile robot runs around t.he obstacle for avoiding
1 he obstacle. This motion is called avoidance mode.
.Avoidance mode has two possible actions: straight.

The motion developed the running iilgoril.hm

with the straight. running and the spin running is
const,ruct.ed by t.hree possible actions: straight
running mode: mode of obstacle avoitlance; mode
of avoiding t,op of obstacles.
The algorit,hm for avoiding obstacles is
mentioned by the followin g i terns.
1) The mobile robot runs to a goal a straight

course.
2) The robot stops the robot when an obst.iiclr
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IS

recognized boundary in t.he forbidden region

SI.
The robot, turn to counter clockwise until the
obstacle is recognized in the existence area.
(If t.he mobile robot turn to clock wise, then t.he
esist,ence area is S,. or if it. turn to countercltxkwise. then esist,ence area is s,?)
\Ihen t,he mobile robot. continuous by runs to
the stmight wit,hout. coming into contact. t.he
obst,acle while recognizing the obstacle in the
view field.
If the robot recognizes an obstacle bountlilry in
t,he forbitltlen region SI.go back to section (2).
or if t,he robot lose an obstacle when it. run to
t,he stmight line. t.hen set; up sub goal. antl go
to this sub goill ant1 go t.o section (6).
The mobile robot. relates to clockwise to
confirm an obstilcle when it, arrived at. t.he sub
,

goill.

The robot turns t.o count,er clockwise until the

obstacle is recognize in the esist,ence area.
rhe robot judges t.hc condition of separation
irom il obst ilcle. i1nd if it.s condit.ion is si1t8isfic?d.
the robot turn t o t.he goal ilntl separiit.es from
t.ho obst.iiclc. antl go bilck t.0 section (1). or
\vhon out of contlit.ion for sepi~riit.ionfrom
obsIiI(!le. go back 1.0 section (4).

the near of parking area, the robot. runs t,o the

cent,er of garage existence on t.he stmight. line
while wat.ching t,he presence of the garage. In
t.his running by straight. line, t,he robot stops t,o
run when it. recognizes to arrive on t.he field
view. or when it. recognizes t.he garage in the
center of the garage exist,ence area. And t,hen.
the robot. spin t,o t,urn until the gitriigc? is
recognized in the view area T. If {.he robot,
recognizes t,he garage, t.he motion process
for\viirds to (6). However. t.he robot. closc?s 1.0
esecute t,he parking mode when t.he gilrilge is
unrecognized in the area I illt.hough t.he robot.
spins 1.0 {.urn360 degrees.
The robot stops t,he spin running when the
garage is recognized in t.he vie\v field iir(>il1.
Then. t,he robot runs to t.he stmight. line until
t.he garage is recognized in t.he rorbitltlen
region SI.
If the robot. ilpproilches t.he garage. The socontl
is judges the ent,rance bet.\veen t.hc \vi111 of I;ho
pilriige by edge piit.t.ern of t.hc gilrilg(? ilntl t h ~
floor.
If the robot. recognize {,hat.1 his c?tlgc?l)iIt.t.(?rn
isnt thc entriince of gilr>Ige. the robot sets t.hc?
sub goill (Si)iintl moves t.hc S U ~goill.
Therefore. i l s t,h(? gilriigc ciln b(! ilgitin
recognized in t,he view field. the robol. iIt,I,(?mph
ti) recognize t.he garage ill. t.he other viowi)oint,.
ilnd then it. st.iIrts 1.0 (SOCU~(? t.hc I ) ~ O W S S (8).
I:urt-herrnorc?. if I he robot rc?cogiiixcs t.hc
(?~i~.riince
of il gi1rilge. I h(? I ) ~ O C ( ? S for\vi1r(l
S
1.0
(9).
Iht? rob01 gets 1 hc? pilrilmc?t.cr of r(?Iilt,i\T(?
I)osi(ion from lo(!ill posit,ion of I.ho giIritg(?
(?nt.rilnccpoinl.
10) Thc robot judges \vhct.her it.s posit.ion csist.s in
near [.he point --\ or I3 at (.he etlgc! sitlo ol t.ho
gilragc.
11) The robot. spins to clock wise unt.il it. is l ) i ~ r i ~ l l ~ l

< Straight, motla for Parking motion >

,.1he mobile robot runs 1.0 tho t1efinii.c tlisi an(:(?

in ii strilight line for sepilrilt.ion from the
gil Iil ge.
The mobile robot runs i o (.he goill in il st.riIight.
linc i\fter turn to the goal.
\Phen the robot. running t:o the goal in it
st.riiight line . if t,he robot, unrecognized t,he
FiiriIge esist.ence area and recognizes an
Obst.iicle boundiiry in t.he forbidden region SI!
the sect.ion moves t.he obstacle avoidance
mode.
\\hen the robot running t.o the goill. the gilrilge
csistence iireki in bhe forbidden region SI it,
recognizes t,he garage exist,ence area if it.
recognizes.

\Phen tlie mobile robot. recognizes to iirri\;tt in

1695

to t,hc entrance oi garilgc? if the mobile robot.

come t.0 the posit.ion in a near t.ho etlgct I)oint,I\
of t.he gariige ent,riince. .And. t,he robol. runs in
front. of t.hc cent,er .point.of the ent.riin(:c in t.hc
straight. line. When t.he robot. arrives in front
of t,he cent,er point. of the ent.rance. it spins 1.0
clock wise until it is done il vert.icii1 tlirocl.ion
for the it,s ent.rance. .4ft,er t,he spin running.
the rcibot. goes int,o t,he garage with onos bil(!k
t,o\\rard: iInd then the robot. stop t,o run on the
center of garage. Moreover. t.he self-position
iInd t,he post.ure angle is correct,ed. t.he I)rocess
t.o enter the robot, int,o t,he gariige is complct.otl.
By esecut.ing the iibove-mentioned prtwess. he
mobile robot. is ilble to go into t.he gilr;\g(?. This
iilgorit,hm u1it.h t,he ment,ionetl process is ciill~tl
{.heparking motion for t.he mobile robot..

Simulationresultsdrunning

We tlevelopetl the simulat.ion for the on-line

i)at.h-planning algorithm that. the nonholonomic
i-olx)t can be arrived at. the goal in an uncertain 3 D worltl. And then. we verified t.hat this new
algorit,hm improves t,he convergence t,o a goal
using t,his parking motion with the newly
developed simulation.
This on-line pat,h-planning algorit,hm construct.
bj- t,wo iilgorit,hms: one is already the developed
algorit,hm t,hat. t1irect.s the wheel mobile robot.
iirrive t.o t.he goal by visual sensor in uncert,ain 3-D
world. And the second is t,he algorithm of local
area running around t,he goal that. aft,er t,hc robot.
searches t.he garage on the goal, it, goes put, int,o
t,he garage wlletl t,he parking mot,ion.
In t,his simulation. t,he mobile robot. is given
only a dat,a of the st,art. point. and t.he goal point. in
uncertain 3 - D world. .hdthe glgbal position of the
garage iind some obst,acles is given in this
simulaltion program for making of imaginary
pictures by a visual sensor. Then the mobile robot.
is est.ablished by the algorit,hm t.hat.causes a slight.
inference of self-position error every unit. t,imes.
The sampling cycle of the visual sensor is 0.2
sewnd. and the order velocity of t.he mobile robot.
is 0. lm/sec. antl the order angle ve1ocit.y is
0.lraNsec.
In addition. the position error at. the goal point.
is clefined as t,he ratio t.o t,he least. radius O.2lrn in
the spin running.
We experimented t,o move back and forth
bet.ween the start. point. and the goal. Their
experiment,al r e s u k , by using the parking motion
or not. are shown in Fig. 5.6,'i and 8.
Fig.6 antl Fig6 show experimental results by
t,he formerly algorithm (not, using parking motion);
The final position error a t t,he goal point. was 3&m
(350%) in t.he case of Fig.6. This cause is a reason
that. t.he robot. cannot. cancel the self-position error!
(.hen t.he more running the more accumulat*ed
error increase. As shown in simulation results, in
t,he case of the mobile robot without. t.he motion
tias a slight. inference of t,he self-position error on
arriving at. (.he first goal point, by no using the
parking motion. -4nd t,hen. it intlicat,es t,hat. t,he
error increiise. as (.he inference of self-position
ei:.ror protlucetl in arrival i I t , the second goal point.
ix ~i(!Celeriit.ctl
t.o an initial error.
Moreover. it: appears that, the convergence t,o a
goal increases. as it cannot, be kept. tu st,abilize t,he
running path by n o recognizing for ii changing
point correct,ly.
The simuliit.ion resu1t.s by the ncnly developed
i)ilt ti -planning iilgori t,hm tvit,h the parking motion
itrc shown in Fig.7 iintl I2ig.X if it rccognizes. The
I.itli\l i)osit,ion crror ill. t h ~
goill point, \viis 2 cm
( I U . ~ Y % ) in the (:iis(! of I7ic.H. t ' o n s c q u c ~ ~ t ii. \vas

verdietl t.hiit. the? running algorit.hm u s i i i ~ t tic

parking motion makes improve? a c:onvcrgc,.enc:o(.(I i i
goal, :is t.he running 1)wt.h ilre st,al)l(? fi)r
improvement. of convergence 1.0 the chilnginfi point
even if t,he round txip is running.

ljr.

1696

..
point I
I

10

<

20

X-Axis(m)
goal point s:17.00 y: 15.00
arrival point 1:16.93 I-:
1.5.01
arrival error 33.6%
Fig. 5 Result of sirnulation without parking inotioii
(outgoing route)

PO iii 12

; point I

X-Asis(in)
goal point X:2.00 Y2.00
arrival point S:2.:38Y:1.37
iir~*ival
error 360%
Fig. (3 Rcsrilt of siinulation without parking inotion
(\\;ay back)

result is shown in Fig.!) and Eig. 19,.Fig.:) sho\vs ;in

esarnple of running. tvhich t,he robot. goes in1.o t hc
garage in a point. 70 cm apart. from .(.he giir;tg(?
wit,hout. avoidance for the wall of t.he garilgp. .hd.
Fig. 10 shows an esample of. running. which t.ho
robot goes int,o t,he garage in w point. IO(! cm ii
apart from the garage while turning ~1)oui.t.hn
wall of t.he garage. The robot recognizes the
relation of a relat,ive posit,ion bet.ween t,he entr;inco
of garage and itself posit.ions from t,he Itx:iil
coorclinates. and t,hen it. calculat,es t.he rccogniml
running parameter for t,he parking mot ion.
Therefore, t.he robot. is able to enter into t.hc garage.
The experiment. of running was done t,o \.erif!. this
above ment,ioned the algorithm by using 1 h e
mobile robot. act,ually.

poi 11 12

I'of

ohstncle

!Fv
ohstncle

20

"

"

"

"

'-I

X-AXIS

--

\ mm )

:10-

Fig9 Result of running

-e
>

1 OCIOr

.:..e
.
I

--.

- 1 iiiiii

'

It,,,(,

S-Axis IIII 111 I

Fig. 10 Result of running

entalresultsdrunningbythe
P

-4s shown in Fig.9 ancl Fig.10. it \vas indicated

t.hat t,he mobile robot. could be to enter into the
garage by this running algorithm. Then. its sho\vn
i n Fig. 10, it. was c1irect.s the mobile rob01 to Ih c
g;ir;ige while t,urning about the \\.all of the gilriigc.

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I3y these esperimental results of running using the

pirking motion .iilgorit-hm. it. could be indica1.ed
1:hat: t,he arrival error in the center of garage is a
mitsimum 28.5 mm: anti the error of a posture
ithgln is maximum 3.1 degrees. -And. it could be
intlic~t.etl,8~:hat.
the robot. be able to enter into the
garitge \Cit.hout: coming contact. t.he wall of t,he
gariige. as t.he witkh of t.he garage entrance is a
400 mm and t,he witkh of this robot. is a 300 mm.

6 . conclusian

4) Consequent.!\: if. was verified that. this tlcvoiopc!tl

algorithm of the parking motion was effective to
improve t.he convergence to H goal for t.he mobile
called a nonholonomic robot.

[ I ] V.L.Lumelsky -4lgorit.hm and (lomplesit!.

Issues of Motion
in an
Uncertain
Environment.. tJ.(hmplexit.y. \b1.8. lip. L4G 182.
1979.
[2] \T.L.Lumelsky and A.A.Step~no\~ PathPlanning St.rat.egies for ? , Point Mobilc
.ht.omation Moving
.Amidst
Unknoum
0bst.acles of .kbit.rary Shape. Algorithum
\d.2. 1)1).408-480.198i
[3] H.Noborio Several Path Planning Algorithm
of Mobile Robot. for an Uncertain \Vorkspace
and their E\wluat.ion. Prw. Of the IEEE Int.
Work. Intel.hlot,ion Control. Vol. 1. pp,289294,.4ugust 1990.
[4] H.Noborio -4 sufficient Conchion Designing
a Family of Sensor-Based Deadlock-Free PathPlanning -Ugorithms. Journal of Aclvancetl
Robotics. \,bl.7.No.5:pp.41:+4:3:% 1993
[ 5 ] H..4n, SJukawa: T.Horiguti. YTakaoka.
T.Jamano. N.Minemori. and 1i.Suenobu: On
line
Pat,h-Planning
;Ugolit.hm
tor
Nonholonomic Mobile Robot By t.he Parallel
Processing in Uncerhin 3-D \T:orltl. Correct
hlodel
of
Parallel
Computing.
10s
Press,(1996)228-283.
I

We hilt1 been cleveloped an autmomous mobile

roljot. kalletl it nonholonomic robot.. which cannot be
movct omnitlirect.ion ;Inti run on two wheels
cquippcxl 1vit.h a (XXl camera. In t.his t.ime. we
proposed t,he new algorit,hm using t.he parkinr:
motion t,hat. make t.0 improve the convergence to a
goal. which enter t,he robot,.int,ot,he garage turning
about the wall of the garage in a n unknown world
and t,hereby the self-position error is cancelled.
As a result,, t,he following. conclusion could be
obeained.
1)We developed t,he new running algorithm of t.he
parking motion improving the convergence to a
goal of t,he mobile robot. called a nonholonomic
robot.. By using this parking motion. the error of
t,he self-position can be cancelled.
2) Tht? simulat,ion program for this algorit.hm was
developed t.o check the running algorithm by
using the parking motion. and then it. confirmed
by t.his simulation t.hat. the developed parking
mot.ion was effective to improve the convergence
to a goal for the mobile robot.;
3) As shown in the obtained experimental results
by running the mobile robot with t,he developed
parking motion actually: it. was inclicat.ed t,hat,
t,he robot. could be t.o enter int.0 the garage while
turning about. the n d 1 of the garage.

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