Abstract
Moving obstacle avoidance is a fundamental re- quirement for any robot operating in real environments, where pedestrians, bicycles and cars are present. In this paper, we propose and validate a framework for avoiding moving obstacles during visual navigation with a wheeled mobile robot. Visual navigation consists of following a path, represented as an ordered set of key images, which have been acquired by an on-board camera in a teaching phase. While following such path, our robot is able to avoid static as well as moving obstacles, which were not present during teaching, and which are sensed by an on- board lidar. The proposed approach takes explicitly into account obstacle velocities, estimated using an appropriate Kalman-based observer. The velocities are then used to predict the obstacle positions within a tentacle-based approach. Finally, our approach is validated in a series of real outdoor experiments, showing that when the obstacle velocities are considered, the robot behaviour is safer, smoother, and faster than when it is not.