RPF-Search: Field-based Search for Robot Person Following in Unknown Dynamic Environments

Fuente: arXiv
Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ye, Hanjing, Cai, Kuanqi, Zhan, Yu, Xia, Bingyi, Ajoudani, Arash, Zhang, Hong
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
_version_ 1866918088510799872
author Ye, Hanjing
Cai, Kuanqi
Zhan, Yu
Xia, Bingyi
Ajoudani, Arash
Zhang, Hong
author_facet Ye, Hanjing
Cai, Kuanqi
Zhan, Yu
Xia, Bingyi
Ajoudani, Arash
Zhang, Hong
contents Autonomous robot person-following (RPF) systems are crucial for personal assistance and security but suffer from target loss due to occlusions in dynamic, unknown environments. Current methods rely on pre-built maps and assume static environments, limiting their effectiveness in real-world settings. There is a critical gap in re-finding targets under topographic (e.g., walls, corners) and dynamic (e.g., moving pedestrians) occlusions. In this paper, we propose a novel heuristic-guided search framework that dynamically builds environmental maps while following the target and explicitly addresses these two types of occlusions through distinct mechanisms. For topographic occlusions, a belief-guided search field estimates the likelihood of the target's presence and guides search toward promising frontiers. For dynamic occlusions, an observation-based search strategy adaptively switches between a fluid-following field and an overtaking potential field based on occluder motion patterns. Our results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms existing approaches in terms of search efficiency and success rates, both in simulations and real-world tests. Our target search method enhances the adaptability and reliability of RPF systems in unknown and dynamic environments, supporting their use in real-world applications.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_02188
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle RPF-Search: Field-based Search for Robot Person Following in Unknown Dynamic Environments
Ye, Hanjing
Cai, Kuanqi
Zhan, Yu
Xia, Bingyi
Ajoudani, Arash
Zhang, Hong
Robotics
Autonomous robot person-following (RPF) systems are crucial for personal assistance and security but suffer from target loss due to occlusions in dynamic, unknown environments. Current methods rely on pre-built maps and assume static environments, limiting their effectiveness in real-world settings. There is a critical gap in re-finding targets under topographic (e.g., walls, corners) and dynamic (e.g., moving pedestrians) occlusions. In this paper, we propose a novel heuristic-guided search framework that dynamically builds environmental maps while following the target and explicitly addresses these two types of occlusions through distinct mechanisms. For topographic occlusions, a belief-guided search field estimates the likelihood of the target's presence and guides search toward promising frontiers. For dynamic occlusions, an observation-based search strategy adaptively switches between a fluid-following field and an overtaking potential field based on occluder motion patterns. Our results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms existing approaches in terms of search efficiency and success rates, both in simulations and real-world tests. Our target search method enhances the adaptability and reliability of RPF systems in unknown and dynamic environments, supporting their use in real-world applications.
title RPF-Search: Field-based Search for Robot Person Following in Unknown Dynamic Environments
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.02188