Potential field method : Real Robots

Question

Potential field method is a very popular simulation for Robot Navigation. However, has anyone implemented Potential field method on real robots ? Any reference or any claim of using the method in real robots ?.

Answer 1

I have done potential field based path planning before, but abandoned it in favour of more appropriate approaches to my problem. It works adequately for environments where you have accurate localization, and accurate sensor readings, but much less so in real world environments (its not a particulary great solution even in terms of speed and path quality, even in simulation). Considering that there are now a lot of good SLAM implementations available either free or low cost, I wouldnt bother reimplementing unless you have very specific problems with reuse. For MRDS (what i work in) there is Karto Robotics, ROS has a SLAM implementation, and there are several open-source implementations only a google search away.

If you want a good overview of different approaches to path planning, then you might want to grab a copy of "introduction to Autonomous Mobile Robots" by Segwart et al. Its a pretty good book, and the path planning section gives a nice overview of the different strategies around.

Answer 2

I would suggest reading the book Planning Algorithms by Steven M. LaValle if you are generally interested in path or motion planning. Methods described in this book are actively used in the robotics community.

A search on google scholar or the IEEE website on the other hand will get you a lot of references to papers describing usage and research of the potential field method.