Local goal determination apparatus, method, and system for non-precision map-based driving

A local goal determination method for driving a robot based on a non-precision map, the local goal determination method being performed by a computing device including a processor and a memory, the local goal determination method comprising:

• receiving a current position of the robot, a current direction of the robot, a plurality of way points to a destination, and an adjacent drivable area;
• determining a driving direction for the robot to proceed based on the current position of the robot, the current direction of the robot, and the plurality of way points;
• determining a plurality of local goal candidate positions within the adjacent drivable area based on the current position of the robot;
• calculating long-range geometry information using sensor information;
• evaluating each of the plurality of local goal candidate positions based on the long-range geometry information and the driving direction to determine an evaluation score of each of the plurality of local goal candidate positions;
• and
• determining, as a local goal of the robot, one of the plurality of local goal candidate positions that has a greatest evaluation score among the evaluation scores of the plurality of local goal candidate positions.

A local goal determination system for driving a robot based on a non-precision map, comprising:

• a sensor unit comprising GPS, LiDAR, and a plurality of cameras;
• a path planning unit configured to:
• receive the non-precision map,
• based on the non-precision map and sensor information received from the sensor unit, determine an adjacent drivable area, way points to a destination, and a local goal of the robot, and
• generate a local path plan based on the local goal;
• and
• a robot control unit configured to control driving of the robot based on the local path plan received from the path planning unit.