This paper is concerned with the research completed for the fourth year project, 'ROD: A Virtual Robot in a closed environment. It gives an introduction to the topic and the related areas. It defines the environment in which Robotic Obstacle Detection system,
(ROD) will exist, and it also defines the 'virtual robot' as an autonomous agent.
It then gives background information into the area of robotics and also to the architecture that will be used. The next section is concerned with the current developments in the area of robotics. The research question, on which this dissertation is based, is then given and explained. The paper then goes into the issues involved in the design of the system and how these issues and their associated problems can be addressed. Some of the areas described include Path Planning, Navigation, Obstacle Avoidance (this also covers error recovery), and the final architecture of the system that will be implemented. The dissertation concludes with analysis and review of the research and implementation findings.
