Virtual Obstacles for Safe Mobile Robot Navigation Safe mobile robot navigation is important in both indoor and outdoor environments. In static environments, path planning of mobile robots is mainly governed by factors like shortest paths selection. However, in dynamic scenarios, some paths may be blocked temporarily (for ex. for cleaning) while others may not suitable for robot navigation due to high traffic. In such scenarios, robots must avoid using such paths. This paper proposes a method to actively block such paths by using virtual obstacles. The virtual obstacles can be placed or removed by a user anywhere on the map permanently or for specific intervals. The robotu0027s global path is planned by considering the influence of virtual obstacles. Experiments in real scenarios shows that the proposed method is able to alter the global paths of the robots for safe navigation.

Real Time Obstacle Avoidance and Navigation with Mobile Robot via Local Elevation Information This paper considers the realtime navigation and obstacle avoidance of mobile robots in complex environments. A novel local environment perception and navigation framework for mobile robot navigation based on the elevation information is proposed. A local elevation map is introduced to perceive and map obstacles in the local environment. Calculating obstaclesxe2x80x99 heights and shapes by local elevation maps, the terrain traversability of the surrounding environment of a robot is determined, and a twodimensional local occupancy grid map for robot path planning and navigation in local environment is generated. The effectiveness of our approach is validated experimentally through realtime navigation and obstacle avoidance in the artificial environment. The experimental results show that using the proposed framework, a mobile robot can safely reach its target position while avoiding the noncrossable area. For indoor mobile robots with limited computing power, in complex environments, it could provides more safe navigation and pathplanning.