Autonomous Spiral Motion by a Small-Type Robot on an Obstacle-Available Surface

Several robot-related studies have been conducted in recent years; however, studies on the autonomous travel of small mobile robots in small spaces are lacking. In this study, we investigate the development of autonomous travel for small robots that need to travel and cover the entire smooth surface, such as those employed for cleaning tables or solar panels. We consider an obstacle-available surface and target this travel on it by proposing a spiral motion method. To achieve the spiral motion, we focus on developing autonomous avoidance of obstacles, return to original path, and fall prevention when robots traverse a surface. The development of regular travel by a robot without an encoder is an important feature of this study. The traveled distance was measured using the traveling time. We achieved spiral motion by analyzing the data from multiple small sensors installed on the robot by introducing a new attitude-control method, and we ensured that the robot returned to the original spiral path autonomously after avoiding obstacles and without falling over the edge of the surface.