Patent ID: 7769491

Claim:
An obstacle avoiding apparatus to be used for a mobile robot apparatus to avoid obstacles, the apparatus comprising: obstacle environment map drawing means for dividing a range of height from a reference surface for the mobile robot apparatus to move thereon to a total height of the mobile robot apparatus into a plurality of layers, wherein each layer corresponds to a predetermined respective range of height and drawing a plurality of obstacle environment maps, wherein each map shows an area occupied by one or more than one obstacles existing in the corresponding layer; and route planning means for planning a route for the robot apparatus to move along according to an enlarged environment map prepared by enlarging the area occupied by the obstacle or obstacles in the obstacle environment maps, the enlarging of the area occupied being done as a function of the cross sectional profile of the mobile robot apparatus in each of the layers, wherein: the mobile robot apparatus is modeled by means of a plurality of cylinders that correspond respectively to the predetermined ranges of height and have a length perpendicular to the reference surface so that each cylinder shares a common center axis.