Mobile-robot navigation with complete coverage of unstructured environments

There are some mobile-robot applications that require the complete coverage of an unstructured environment. Examples are humanitarian de-mining and floor-cleaning tasks. A complete-coverage algorithm is then used, a path-planning technique that allows the robot to pass over all points in the environment, avoiding unknown obstacles. Different coverage algorithms exist, but they fail working in unstructured environments. This paper details a complete-coverage algorithm for unstructured environments based on sensor information. Simulation results using a mobile robot validate the proposed approach. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.