Target Detection and Navigation System for a mobile Robot

This paper presents the target detection method using Support Vector Machines(SVMs) and the navigation system using behavior-based fuzzy controller. SVM is a machine-learning method based on the principle of structural risk minimization, which performs well when applied to data outside the training set. We formulate detection of target objects as a supervised-learning problem and apply SVM to detect at each location in the image whether a target object is present or not. The behavior-based fuzzy controller is implemented as an individual priority behavior: the highest level behavior is target-seeking, the middle level behavior is obstacle-avoidance, the lowest level is an emergency behavior. We have implemented and tested the proposed method in our mobile robot "Pioneer2-AT". Comparing with a neural-network based detection method, a SVM illustrate the excellence of the proposed method.