Path planning of humanoids based on artificial potential field method in unknown environments

Abstract In this paper, an artificial potential field based navigational controller has been developed for motion planning of humanoid robots. Here, NAO robots are used as the humanoid platform using the underlying principles of potential field based method. The movement of the robot is considered to be under a negative gradient scheme by the combined effect of attractive and repulsive forces generated due to target and obstacles, respectively. The working of the controller is tested in a V‐REP simulation platform, and the simulation results are validated through a real‐time experimental set‐up developed under laboratory conditions. Here, the navigation of both single and multiple humanoids has been attempted. For avoiding intercollision among multiple humanoids during their navigation in a common platform, a Petri‐Net control scheme has been proposed. The results obtained from both the simulation and experimental platforms are compared against each other with a good agreement between them having minimal percentage of deviations. Finally, the proposed controller is also evaluated against another existing navigational model, and a significant performance improvement has been observed.