Avoiding detection in a dynamic environment

Ashley Tews, Maja J. Mataric, Gaurav S. Sukhatme

Abstract: Remaining elusive while navigating to a goal in a dynamic environment containing an observer requires taking advantage of opportunistic cover as it occurs. A reactive navigation approach is needed that recognizes the utility of environment features in offering protective cover. We present an approach that allows stealthy traverses in unknown environments containing dynamic objects. It is a frontier-based method that allows a robot to follow in the obscuring shadow of objects despite their dynamics, and take advantage of more opportunistic cover if it becomes available. An analysis of our approach in off-line modeling and experiments conducted in simulation and outdoor environments demonstrate its effectiveness in achieving high quality solutions for stealthy navigation.