Collision Avoidance of Moving Obstacles for Underwater Robots

A fuzzy logic for autonomous navigation of underwater robot is proposed in this paper. The VFF(Virtual Force Field) algorithm, which is widely used in the field of mobile robot, is modified for application to the autonomous navigation of underwater robot. This Modified Virtual Force Field(MVFF) algorithm using the fuzzy logic can be used in either track keeping or obstacle avoidance. Fuzzy logics are devised to handle various situations which can be faced during autonomous navigation of underwater robot. A graphic simulator based on OpenGL for an autonomous navigation has been developed. The good performance of the proposed MVFF algorithm is verified through computer simulations on an underwater robot.