Autonomous Navigation Through Obstacles

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium encoding instructions that, in response to execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

• receiving image sensor data from one or more sensors;
• estimating one or more obstacle parameters based at least in part on the image sensor data;
• determining a left obstacle image density and a right obstacle image density for a path from a start point to a navigating destination based at least in part on the one or more obstacle parameters;
• generating a vector model to determine a navigating direction based at least in part on the left obstacle image density and the right obstacle image density;
• determining a first navigating velocity for navigating the mobile automated system to the navigating destination based at least in part on the navigating direction;
• and
• generating one or more first navigating commands to navigate the mobile automated system to the navigating destination based at least in part on the first navigating velocity.

A system for navigating a mobile automated system through obstacles, the system comprising:

• a communication module for receiving image sensor data from one or more sensors;
• an estimation module communicatively coupled to the communication module, the estimation module estimating one or more obstacle parameters based at least in part on the image sensor data;
• a density module communicatively coupled to the estimation module, the density module determining a left obstacle image density and a right obstacle image density for a path from a start point to a navigating destination based at least in part on the one or more obstacle parameters;
• a vector module communicatively coupled to the density module, the vector module generating a vector model to determine a navigating direction based at least in part on the left obstacle image density and the right obstacle image density;
• a navigating module communicatively coupled to the vector module, the navigating module determining a first navigating velocity for navigating the mobile automated system to the navigating destination based at least in part on the navigating direction;
• and
• a command module communicatively coupled to the navigating module, the command module generating one or more first navigating commands to navigate the mobile automated system to the navigating destination based at least in part on the first navigating velocity.