Development of simulation software for mobile robot path planning within multilayer map system based on metric and topological maps

This article deals with methods of navigation and mapping of mobile robots in an indoor environment, for example, laboratories, building corridors, and so on. It explains the proposed solution of global navigation in more detail through the application of potential field method and its transformation into the topological map. Two separate software tools were designed for simulation of wheeled mobile robot behavior in the authors’ workplace. The first software uses the metric form of space representation and it can simulate tactic level of global navigation, while the second one deals with its transformation into the topological map and can be used for strategic level of global navigation. This is how we can get the so-called multilayer map system suitable for different tasks of mobile robot navigation and path planning.