Navigation and Obstacle Avoidance for Indoor Sweeping Robots Oriented by WorkFlow

Sweeping robots have been extensively deployed in indoor environments; however, achieving robust navigation and obstacle avoidance in complex and dynamic spaces remains a challenge. Most existing research only concentrates on single specific improvement of algorithms, while the continuity and coordination of the navigation process receive less attention. In this paper, indoor sweeping robot navigation is considered from a workflow perspective, with emphasis on the integration of perception, localization, path planning, obstacle avoidance, and motion execution. Obstacle avoidance is emphasized as the key part in local decision-making, which bridges perception and motion execution and directly determines the navigation safety and continuity. By integrating obstacle-avoidance within a single navigation loop, sweeping robots would be able to handle localization uncertainty, dynamic obstacles and constrained indoor environments. The analysis and the proposed workflow-oriented perspective provide insights for designing more robust and practical autonomous indoor cleaning systems.