Side Tendency Layer: Enhancing Social Robot Navigation for Passenger and Pedestrian Comfort Using Local Sensor Data

Kalenberg M, Li S, Engelhardt H, Walter J, Franke J (2025)

Publication Type: Conference contribution

Publication year: 2025

Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.

Conference Proceedings Title: 2025 European Conference on Mobile Robots, ECMR 2025 - Proceedings

Event location: Padua IT

ISBN: 9798331527051

DOI: 10.1109/ECMR65884.2025.11163026

Abstract

Due to the demographic shift towards an aging population, there is growing interest in the development of Person Navigation Systems (PNS), which support people with impairments and their caregivers. However, there is a lack of algorithms for navigating these systems that behave socially and simultaneously take the passenger comfort factors, such as side tendency, into account. In this paper, we propose a novel method that incorporates side tendency into the path planning for PNS or social robots using local sensor data. The sensor data of our intelligent wheelchair is utilized to approximate the walls on the left and right. Based on these detections, a predefined comfort function is applied to assign lateral costs in the costmap according to the estimated width of the corridor, representing the side tendency. Utilizing dynamic sensor data, the proposed approach facilitates adaptation to changes or unknown environments, thus demonstrating its superiority over previous methods based on a static global map.

Authors with CRIS profile

Matthias Kalenberg Lehrstuhl für Fertigungsautomatisierung und Produktionssystematik (FAPS) Helmut Engelhardt Lehrstuhl für Fertigungsautomatisierung und Produktionssystematik (FAPS) Jonas Walter Lehrstuhl für Fertigungsautomatisierung und Produktionssystematik (FAPS) Jörg Franke Lehrstuhl für Fertigungsautomatisierung und Produktionssystematik (FAPS)

How to cite

APA:

Kalenberg, M., Li, S., Engelhardt, H., Walter, J., & Franke, J. (2025). Side Tendency Layer: Enhancing Social Robot Navigation for Passenger and Pedestrian Comfort Using Local Sensor Data. In Antonios Gasteratos, Nicola Bellotto, Stefano Tortora (Eds.), 2025 European Conference on Mobile Robots, ECMR 2025 - Proceedings. Padua, IT: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc..

MLA:

Kalenberg, Matthias, et al. "Side Tendency Layer: Enhancing Social Robot Navigation for Passenger and Pedestrian Comfort Using Local Sensor Data." Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Mobile Robots, ECMR 2025, Padua Ed. Antonios Gasteratos, Nicola Bellotto, Stefano Tortora, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2025.

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