Sidewalk delivery robot navigation: a pedestrian-based approach

In this paper, we propose a novel navigation system for mobile robots in pedestrian-rich sidewalk environments. Sidewalks are unique in that the pedestrian-shared space has characteristics of both roads and indoor spaces. Like vehicles on roads, pedestrian movement often manifests as flows in opposing directions. On the other hand, pedestrians also form crowds and can exhibit much more random movements than vehicles. Classical algorithms are insufficient for safe navigation around pedestrians and remaining on the sidewalk space. Thus, our approach takes advantage of natural human motion to allow a robot to adapt to sidewalk navigation in a safe and socially-compliant manner. We developed a group surfing method which aims to imitate the optimal pedestrian group for bringing the robot closer to its goal. For pedestriansparse environments, we propose a sidewalk edge detection and following method. Underlying these two navigation methods, the collision avoidance scheme is human-aware. Components of the navigation stack are demonstrated in simulation and an integrated simulation and real-world experiment are discussed.