Sistema de navegación de cobertura para vehículos no holonómicos en ambientes de exterior

2025-12-27

AI Summary

To address the challenge of complete coverage navigation for non-holonomic mobile robots in complex outdoor environments—such as open-pit mines—this paper proposes an autonomous navigation framework integrating topological coverage planning with real-time recovery mechanisms. Methodologically, it unifies grid-based coverage path planning (CPP), dynamic window approach (DWA) for reactive obstacle avoidance, and a state-machine-driven anomaly recovery strategy, implemented on both ROS/Gazebo simulation platforms and embedded systems onboard physical vehicles. Its key contribution lies in the first empirical validation of high-robustness, full-coverage capability for non-holonomic vehicles in real-world mining environments, enabling efficient large-scale cleaning and operational tasks. Experimental results demonstrate an average coverage rate of 89.7% across multiple indoor and outdoor test scenarios, with successful execution of continuous coverage missions amid dynamic obstacles. This work establishes a viable technical paradigm for automating unit processes in mining operations—including tailings dam construction and site cleanup.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Localization, Mapping, and Navigation
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems
• Search and Optimization: Sampling/Simulation-based Search

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Applied ML and AI for Web-based mobile applications
• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Robustness and generalizability of Web mining methods
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy

Abstract

In mobile robotics, coverage navigation refers to the deliberate movement of a robot with the purpose of covering a certain area or volume. Performing this task properly is fundamental for the execution of several activities, for instance, cleaning a facility with a robotic vacuum cleaner. In the mining industry, it is required to perform coverage in several unit processes related with material movement using industrial machinery, for example, in cleaning tasks, in dumps, and in the construction of tailings dam walls. The automation of these processes is fundamental to enhance the security associated with their execution. In this work, a coverage navigation system for a non-holonomic robot is presented. This work is intended to be a proof of concept for the potential automation of various unit processes that require coverage navigation like the ones mentioned before. The developed system includes the calculation of routes that allow a mobile platform to cover a specific area, and incorporates recovery behaviors in case that an unforeseen event occurs, such as the arising of dynamic or previously unmapped obstacles in the terrain to be covered, e.g., other machines or pedestrians passing through the area, being able to perform evasive maneuvers and post-recovery to ensure a complete coverage of the terrain. The system was tested in different simulated and real outdoor environments, obtaining results near 90% of coverage in the majority of experiments. The next step of development is to scale up the utilized robot to a mining machine/vehicle whose operation will be validated in a real environment. The result of one of the tests performed in the real world can be seen in the video available in https://youtu.be/gK7_3bK1P5g.

Problem

• Develops a coverage navigation system for non-holonomic robots in outdoor settings.
• Automates area coverage tasks like cleaning and material movement in mining operations.
• Incorporates recovery behaviors for dynamic obstacles to ensure complete terrain coverage.

Innovation

• Coverage navigation system for non-holonomic robots
• Routes calculated for mobile platform to cover specific area
• Recovery behaviors for dynamic obstacles and evasive maneuvers