Obstacle Detection

Obstacle detection is the use of sensors and software to identify obstacles around the robot. Obstacle detection plays a critical role in preventing collisions, mapping/SLAM, and generating information used by navigation and path planning algorithms.

Simple application: a robot reads output from a front-mounted IR or ultrasonic distance sensor to detect obstacles in front of itself and uses this information to stop before a collision happens.

Complex application: a robot uses a 3D lidar to scan its surroundings and passes the generated point cloud to a SLAM algorithm to update a map of its environment.

Sensor selection is a complex topic and depends on many factors and considerations.