Obstacle Avoidance using VFF
OBSTACLE AVOIDANCE USING VFF NAVIGATION ALGORITHM In this practice we will learn how to make a Formula 1 able to avoid obstacles in his path implementing the logic of the Virtual Force Field navigation algorithm ( VFF ): The VFF (Virtual Force Field) is a navigation algorithm in which the trajectory of the robot (in this case, the formula1) is determined by virtual forces. We can differentiate 3 components: ATTRACTION FORCE: Force that push the robot toward an objective. REPULSIVE FORCE: Make up by the obstacles in the path (other cars, walls, etc...) which we don't want to crash into. AVERAGE FORCE: Linear combination of both the attraction and repulsive forces, each multiply by a different coefficient that adjust the weight of each force. FIRST STEP: FINDING OUT THE VFF VECTORS: The first thing we need to do is to find out the components of that vectors: REPULSIVE FORCE: Using the lidar sensor from the F1 we can estimate the distance from the car to each o...