Force-Compliance MPC and Robot-User CBFs for Interactive Navigation and User-Robot Safety in Hexapod Guide Robots

TL;DR

This paper presents a real-time, force-compliant navigation system for Hexapod guide robots that ensures safety and effective interaction with visually impaired users in complex environments.

Contribution

It introduces a novel combination of FC-MPC and Robot-User CBFs for interactive navigation and safety, with efficient obstacle clustering and dynamic obstacle prediction.

Findings

Successful real-time navigation with force compliance

Effective obstacle avoidance in dynamic environments

Guarantees user and robot safety during operation

Abstract

Guiding the visually impaired in complex environments requires real-time two-way interaction and safety assurance. We propose a Force-Compliance Model Predictive Control (FC-MPC) and Robot-User Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) for force-compliant navigation and obstacle avoidance in Hexapod guide robots. FC-MPC enables two-way interaction by estimating user-applied forces and moments using the robot's dynamic model and the recursive least squares (RLS) method, and then adjusting the robot's movements accordingly, while Robot-User CBFs ensure the safety of both the user and the robot by handling static and dynamic obstacles, and employ weighted slack variables to overcome feasibility issues in complex dynamic environments. We also adopt an Eight-Way Connected DBSCAN method for obstacle clustering, reducing computational complexity from O(n2) to approximately O(n), enabling real-time local perception on resource-limited on-board robot computers. Obstacles are modeled using Minimum Bounding Ellipses (MBEs), and their trajectories are predicted through Kalman filtering. Implemented on the HexGuide robot, the system seamlessly integrates force compliance, autonomous navigation, and obstacle avoidance. Experimental results demonstrate the system's ability to adapt to user force commands while guaranteeing user and robot safety simultaneously during navigation in complex environments.