Obstacle avoidance

In the robotic soccer field, there are often obstacles between the robot and its goal location. Our robots try to avoid collisions by planning a path around the obstacles. Due to the highly dynamic nature of this domain, our obstacle avoidance algorithm uses closed-loop control by which the robots continually replan their goal positions around obstacles. In the event that an obstacle blocks the direct path to the goal location, the robot aims to one side of the obstacle until it is in a position such that it can move directly to its original goal. Rather than planning the entire path to the goal location at once, the robot just looks ahead to the first obstacle in its way under the assumption that other robots are continually moving around. Using the reactive control described above, the robot continually reevaluates its target position. For an illustration, see Figure 5.

  
Figure 5: Obstacle avoidance through dynamic generation of intermediate targets.

The robot starts by trying to go straight towards its final target along line a. When it comes across an obstacle within a certain distance of itself and of line a, it aims at an intermediate target to the side, and slightly beyond the obstacle. The robot goes around the obstacle the short way, unless it is at the edge of the field. Using reactive control, the robot continually recomputes line a until the obstacle is no longer in its path. As it comes across further obstacles, it aims at additional intermediate targets until it obtains an unobstructed path to the final target.

Even with obstacle avoidance in place, the robots can occasionally get stuck against other robots or against the wall. Particularly if opponent robots do not use obstacle avoidance, collisions are inevitable. When unable to move, our robots identify the source of the problem as the closest obstacle and ``unstick'' themselves by moving away. Once free, normal control resumes.