Patent ID: 7519457
Filing Date: 2009-04-14
Classification: G05D

Abstract:
1. A path generator for autonomously generating a movement path for a mobile object in a movement space, comprising: a map generator configured to generate a map of said movement space based on an initial position and a destination position of said mobile object, and the positions and shapes of one or more obstacles; a composite potential generator configured to calculate an attractive potential and a repulsive potential that are based on a relative positional relationship in said map of said mobile object, said obstacles and said destination position, wherein said generator is configured to generate a composite potential that is a sum of the attractive potential and the repulsive potential; a local minimum determination unit configured to perform a path search in said map based on said composite potential, wherein said local determination unit is configured to determine a position of a lowest composite potential in a local area of a predetermined size around said mobile object and to determine whether said position of the lowest composite potential matches said destination position, wherein said path generator is configured such that when said position of a lowest composite potential does not match said destination position, a potential is added to said lowest composite potential so that said mobile object may move out of said position of the lowest composite potential; and when said position of the lowest composite potential matches said destination position, a movement path for said mobile object is produced.