{"id":123,"date":"2022-11-07T18:48:57","date_gmt":"2022-11-07T23:48:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/?p=123"},"modified":"2022-11-11T16:14:59","modified_gmt":"2022-11-11T21:14:59","slug":"autonomous-navigation-with-brian-douglas-part-1-introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/2022\/11\/07\/autonomous-navigation-with-brian-douglas-part-1-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Autonomous Navigation with Brian Douglas, Part 1: Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>How do robots and autonomous vehicles navigate in different environments? We collaborated with <a href=\"https:\/\/engineeringmedia.com\/\">Brian Douglas<\/a> to help you find it out. Brian is a technical content creator with YouTube videos on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ControlLectures\/featured\">Control System Lectures<\/a>. His content is very helpful for engineering students. In fact, I have watched some of his videos to refresh on control theory during my master\u2019s program.<\/p>\n<p>In this blog series, we\u2019ll cover a lot of topics that I think will be pretty interesting for those who are looking to learn about the concepts, challenges and requirements for autonomous navigation. Here\u2019s what you can look forward to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Introduction to Autonomous Navigation<\/li>\n<li>Localization and Particle Filter<\/li>\n<li>Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM)<\/li>\n<li>Path Planning, It&#8217;s types and Algorithms<\/li>\n<li>Extended Object Tracking<\/li>\n<li>Metrics and Verification<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Do you prefer visuals over bulleted lists? Here is a glimpse of what these posts will include. And then, let\u2019s roll it over to Brian to start with the first post of the series!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-126\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/files\/2022\/11\/Autonomous-Nav-with-Brian-Douglas-Content-Slides-GIF.gif\" alt=\"Autonomous Navigation Blog Series Content\" width=\"924\" height=\"552\" \/><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-129 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/files\/2022\/11\/brian-douglas-engineering-media-headshot.jpg\" alt=\"Brian Douglas\" width=\"130\" height=\"130\" \/>Hi, I\u2019m <a href=\"https:\/\/engineeringmedia.com\">Brian Douglas<\/a> and welcome to the Autonomous Navigation blog!<\/h2>\n<p>This blog will follow along with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/videos\/series\/autonomous-navigation.html\">Autonomous Navigation Tech Talk<\/a> series from MathWorks. You can think of this as a written companion to those videos \u2026 or those videos as an animated companion to this blog. I suppose it\u2019s however you want to look at it!<\/p>\n<p>The goal of this blog and the videos are to introduce some topics within Autonomous Navigation. I want to build up some intuition for each of the concepts we cover rather than go too deep into the mathematics. The hope is that with this gentle introduction you\u2019ll be in a better position to understand what the math is doing, and hopefully, be more motivated to learn it from other, more rigorous resources. I provide links to many of those resources throughout the posts. Now let\u2019s begin with the introduction to Autonomous Navigation (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/videos\/autonomous-navigation-part-1-what-is-autonomous-navigation-1592993748308.html\">link to the animated companion<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Navigation is the ability to determine and control your movement in a way that gets you from your current location to some destination.<\/p>\n<p>At a high level, I think autonomous navigation can be pretty intuitive because humans have a lot of experience navigating in their day-to-day lives. When you travel somewhere, whether you walk, bike, or drive you are doing some amount of navigation.\u00a0 You are using your senses to determine where you are, where you want to be, and how to get there &#8211; you are determining your location and controlling your movement to get to a destination.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s take the simple act of driving to the store.\u00a0 By knowing where you are and where the store is within a map of the neighborhood you can plan which roads to take, and by adjusting the steering wheel and pedals you can get the car to follow that plan.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-150 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/files\/2022\/11\/Picture1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"423\" height=\"184\" \/><\/p>\n<p>While driving, you\u2019re constantly observing your environment with your eyes and ears and complementing the simple 2D road map with a much fuller mental model of the local space.\u00a0 You\u2019re able to interpret the information you gather as other cars, stop signs, speed limits, and anything else that would cause you to have to adjust the finer details of your planned path.<\/p>\n<p>For example, if you approach a slower car, you can determine whether to slow down and stay behind them, speed up and pass them, or take an entirely different route. Once you make your choice, you then act on it by accelerating and steering the vehicle in a way that follows the new path you\u2019ve chosen.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"236\" height=\"284\" class=\"size-full wp-image-174 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/files\/2022\/11\/Picture2.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Autonomous navigation<\/strong> is doing exactly this, but without a human in the loop.\u00a0 Instead of a person, a vehicle is <em>autonomously<\/em> performing the necessary steps to <em>navigate<\/em>. Broadly speaking, an autonomous vehicle can determine its location, develop a plan, and move through an environment to reach a destination all on its own.<\/p>\n<p>When I say autonomous vehicle, I mean any kind of mobile machine.\u00a0 These are things like:<\/p>\n<table style=\"height: 488px\" width=\"882\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"299\">\n<p><div id=\"attachment_231\" style=\"width: 428px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-231\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-231 \" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/files\/2022\/11\/carGIF.gif\" alt=\"A car autonomously traveling down a road\" width=\"418\" height=\"250\" data-wp-editing=\"1\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-231\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A car autonomously traveling down a road<\/p><\/div><\/td>\n<td width=\"15\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"310\">\n<p><div id=\"attachment_234\" style=\"width: 416px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-234\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-234 \" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/files\/2022\/11\/uavGIF.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"406\" height=\"243\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-234\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A UAV autonomously delivering packages<\/p><\/div><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"299\">\n<p><div id=\"attachment_225\" style=\"width: 427px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-225\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-225 \" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/files\/2022\/11\/ModelingAndControlOfAMarsRoverExample_02.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"417\" height=\"272\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-225\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A rover autonomously journeying other planets<\/p><\/div><\/td>\n<td width=\"15\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"310\">\n<p><div id=\"attachment_222\" style=\"width: 409px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-222\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-222\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/files\/2022\/11\/auv.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"399\" height=\"283\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-222\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A submersible autonomously exploring the depths of the ocean<\/p><\/div><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>In summary, we learnt the definition of autonomous navigation. In the next blog, we will learn about different types of autonomy and approaches to achieve full autonomy.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Here is a detailed list of content planned for this blog series, where you will find each post linked when it is published. But we request you to follow this blog page to get a notification when a new post is available. We would love to see your comments on which one of these are you most excited to see.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/2022\/11\/11\/autonomous-navigation-with-brian-douglas-part-2-heuristic-vs-optimal-approach-for-full-autonomy\/\">Introduction to Autonomous Navigation<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li>The Capabilities of Autonomous Navigation Systems<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Where am I? (The Localization Problem)\n<ul>\n<li>Intuition Behind the Particle Filter<\/li>\n<li>A Particle Filter for Localization<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Introduction to Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM)\n<ul>\n<li>Pose Graph Optimization<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Introduction to Path Planning\n<ul>\n<li>Search-Based Planning Methods<\/li>\n<li>Sampling-Based Planning Methods<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Introduction to Extended Object Tracking\n<ul>\n<li>Partitioning and Clustering<\/li>\n<li>The Intuition Behind Multi-Hypothesis Trackers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>How Do We Know Autonomous Navigation Systems Will Work?\n<ul>\n<li>Planning Algorithm Metrics<\/li>\n<li>Tracking Algorithm Metrics<\/li>\n<li>Verifying an Autonomous Navigation System<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Thank you and see you with the next post!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"overview-image\"><img decoding=\"async\"  class=\"img-responsive\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/files\/2022\/11\/Autonomous-Nav-with-Brian-Douglas-Content-Slides-GIF.gif\" onError=\"this.style.display ='none';\" \/><\/div>\n<p>How do robots and autonomous vehicles navigate in different environments? We collaborated with Brian Douglas to help you find it out. Brian is a technical content creator with YouTube videos on&#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/2022\/11\/07\/autonomous-navigation-with-brian-douglas-part-1-introduction\/\">read more >><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":188,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/188"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":300,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions\/300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/autonomous-systems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}