Autonomous mobile machine, and system and method for controlling a mobile machine

A control apparatus for navigating a mobile machine comprising:

• means for obtaining intermediate control outputs in accordance with signals related to a distance and an angle between the machine and a path to be traced according to a navigation procedure for path tracing;
• means for obtaining intermediate control outputs in accordance with signals related to an obstacle-free space according to the navigation procedure for obstacle avoidance;
• means for determining a first weighting coefficient for path tracing and a second weighting coefficient for obstacle avoidance by inference based on a set of fuzzy rules in response to the signals related to distance and angle and the signals related to obstacle-free space;
• and
• means for computing control outputs from a set of intermediate outputs obtained by the navigation procedure for path tracing, those obtained by the navigation procedure for obstacle avoidance, the first coefficient, and the second coefficient.

A control method for navigating a mobile machine comprising the steps of:

• obtaining intermediate control outputs in accordance with information related to a distance and one or more angles between the machine and a path to be traced according to a navigation procedure for path tracing;
• obtaining intermediate control outputs in accordance with information related to an obstacle-free space according to the navigation procedure for obstacle avoidance;
• determining a first weighting coefficient for path tracing and a second weighting coefficient for obstacle avoidance in accordance with said information related to the distance and angle and said information related to the obstacle-free space;
• and
• computing control outputs in accordance with the intermediate outputs obtained by said navigation procedure for path tracing, the first weighting coefficient, the intermediate outputs obtained by said navigation procedure for obstacle avoidance, and the second weighting coefficient.

A control system comprising:

• a sensing unit for outputting different kinds of signals indicating one or more control parameters for calculating the weighting coefficients;
• means for generating intermediate control outputs according to a first control procedure in accordance with at least one kind of signal;
• means for generating intermediate control outputs according to a second control procedure in accordance with at least one other kind of signal;
• means for generating a first weighting coefficient for the first control procedure and a second weighting coefficient for the second control procedure by fuzzy inference in accordance with the kinds of signals used in the first and second control procedures;
• and
• means for computing control outputs in accordance with the intermediate outputs obtained by first control procedure, the first weighting coefficient, the intermediate outputs obtained by second control procedure, and the second weighting coefficient.