Heuristic control system for autonomous navigation

<italic>Autonomous navigation of a mobile robot requires that several problems be solved. These problems can be classified corresponding to their hierarchical level. We have defined four levels including, from top to bottom:</italic><list><item><italic>communication with host (human or computer), interpretation of a high level task and definition of topological navigation subgoals;</italic> </item><item><italic>translation of topological navigation subgoals into geometrical path;</italic> </item><item><italic>calculation of the real path to execute;</italic> </item><item><italic>execution of this path, given the velocity commands and assuming a security function.</italic> </item></list>