Autonomous (self-driving) vehicles are increasingly being tested on highways and city streets. But there is also a need for robots that can navigate through environments like sidewalks, buildings, and hallways. In these situations, the robots must interact and cooperate with pedestrians in a socially acceptable manner. The "rules of the road" no longer apply -- there are no lanes or street signs, and pedestrians don't use turn signals when cutting through crowds. This thesis describes the hardware and software architecture of a robot that was developed for this application. This thesis also proposes a 2nd generation robot with tighter budget and size constraints. Finally, this thesis presents a novel collision avoidance method that extends the Reciprocal Velocity Obstacle (RVO) framework to consider the impact of planning decisions on future world states.
Robot designed for socially acceptable navigation
2017
116 pages
Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2017.
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 113-116).
Theses
Electronic Resource
English
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