Towards an obstacle detection system for robot obstacle negotiation

Purpose To solve the obstacle detection problem in robot autonomous obstacle negotiation, this paper aims to propose an obstacle detection system based on elevation maps for three types of obstacles: positive obstacles, negative obstacles and trench obstacles. Design/methodology/approach The system framework includes mapping, ground segmentation, obstacle clustering and obstacle recognition. The positive obstacle detection is realized by calculating its minimum rectangle bounding boxes, which includes convex hull calculation, minimum area rectangle calculation and bounding box generation. The detection of negative obstacles and trench obstacles is implemented on the basis of information absence in the map, including obstacles discovery method and type confirmation method. Findings The obstacle detection system has been thoroughly tested in various environments. In the outdoor experiment, with an average speed of 22.2 ms, the system successfully detected obstacles with a 95% success rate, indicating the effectiveness of the detection algorithm. Moreover, the system’s error range for obstacle detection falls between 4% and 6.6%, meeting the necessary requirements for obstacle negotiation in the next stage. Originality/value This paper studies how to solve the obstacle detection problem when the robot obstacle negotiation.